Texas Talks Tobacco Buying Age

NACS Daily News

An attempt to increase the tobacco purchasing age from 18 to 21 is floating around the Texas legislature in an effort to curtail teen smoking rates.

​NEW YORK – Legislation introduced last month in Texas would make the state the first to raise the legal purchasing age for all tobacco products from 18 to 21, reports Bloomberg News.

The measure would cut $1.6 billion in Medicaid costs for providing health care to smokers, according to its author, state Sen. Carlos Uresti. “It’s costing the state hundreds of millions of dollars to care for the people with smoking-related illnesses,” he said. “Maybe we can be a leader on this issue.”

Bloomberg notes that four states, Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey and Utah, increased the tobacco purchasing age to 19, while other states have kept the age at 18.

According to Maggie Mahoney, deputy director of the Tobacco Control Legal Consortium, raising the tobacco purchasing age “could have a real impact on smoking prevalence…By reducing the prevalence of smoking in this age group, fewer young adults will become addicted to cigarettes.”

In Texas, where the cigarette excise tax is $1.41 per pack, increase the purchasing age could impact tax revenue collection by $40 million annually, notes the state’s Legislative Budget Board. Lawmakers could be reticent to give up the revenue because of “uncertainty about education funding and other big ticket items,” said Matt Mackowiak, president of Potomac Strategy Group.

However, state Sen. Uresti disputes the $40 million estimate because it doesn’t consider possible cost savings from reducing the number of smokers, writes Bloomberg.

Karmen Hanson, a program manager at the National Conference of State Legislatures, told the news source that few states propose increasing the tobacco purchasing age each year. However, no state has succeeded since 2006.

“There’s also a liberty aspect,” Mackowiak told the news source, adding, “You are an adult when you’re 18.”