Oregon Taxes: State Eyes Hikes On Tobacco, Alcohol Taxes For 2019

PORTLAND, OR – It's been decades since Oregon raised its taxes on beer and wine. The tax is on cigarettes is so low that a pack in Oregon is almost half the price of what you have to pay in California and Washington.

That may be all coming to an end.

The Oregon Health Authority is floating the possibility of raising the tax on cigarettes to $2 per pack. The authority would like to see beer, cider, and wine taxed 10 percent.

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The moves, which were first reported by Willamette Week, would raise at least $800 million and are contained in the agency's draft budget proposal for 2019-2021.

If the increases are passed, the additional revenue would help plug an expected budget gap of more than $800 million that the Oregon Health Plan forecasts seeing in 2019.

OHA believes that the beer, cider, wine increase would bring in $491 million and the tobacco tax would bring in $293.

Even if the cigarette tax were to go through, a pack in Oregon would be cheaper than in neighboring states. Despite that, the state believes that the tax could help decrease smoking in Oregon.

In addition to helping fund the Oregon Health Plan, the additional revenue could also be used for treatment programs and prevention programs.

Oregon tried – and failed – to pass tax increases on alcohol and tobacco in 2017.

Gov. Kate Brown has until Dec. 1 to present a budget to the state legislature.

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