Anti-tobacco groups are calling on lawmakers to raise the tax on products that have been left out of recent increases, such as e-cigarettes and chew. They鈥檙e reigniting their call as part of .
The says these alternative tobacco products should be taxed just as high as cigarettes.
Jeff Stephens with the says bringing parity between cigarettes and chewing tobacco, e-cigarettes and cigars will ultimately help keep young people from smoking.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 how many youth initiate their tobacco use and their lifelong addiction to tobacco and they move over into combustibles. So we need to raise the tax of those products to be on an equal level,鈥� he said.
has found the same carcinogen in regular cigarettes are in e-cigarettes, too.
A pack of cigarettes in Ohio comes with an extra tax of $1.60. Gov. John Kasich has proposed a 65-cent increase, but
Recent measures to attach extra tax to alternative tobacco products and Senate. Meanwhile, some local communities,, Columbus and Cleveland, have tried to curb youth tobacco use by banning sales of tobacco products to people younger than 21.
