Legislature mulls tax hike for noncigarette tobacco products

Hecht said the state raised the tax on cigarettes a year ago but neglected to raise it on other tobacco products, which it has done in tandem in years past. The result is to make the noncigarette tobacco products "relatively inexpensive," he said, which raises worries that young people could be attracted by the lower prices.

"The state should not be inadvertently … creating an incentive for anybody, and particularly young people, to move toward these products," he said.

The idea was criticized by the New England Convenience Store Association, which represents about 1,000 convenience stores in Massachusetts. "For the limited revenue the state would likely receive, they would be hurting existing Massachusetts small businesses," said Diana O'Donoghue, executive director of the group.

The proposal would, for example, increase the tax on moist snuff from its current 90 percent of wholesale price to 110 percent of the wholesale price. In New Hampshire, the tax is 19 percent, she said.

She said convenience stores "cannot afford a loss of more income in this economy."

But Representative Jay Kaufman, House chairman of the Legislature's Revenue Committee, which heard testimony on the bill Tuesday, said, "We're going to do an analysis. … I'm intrigued by the proposal and we're taking a close look at it."

The committee also heard testimony on a bill filed by Representative John P. Fresolo, a Worcester Democrat, that would place a new $5 tax on rolling papers.

"We tax cigarettes, which are a legal product in the Commonwealth. And here are rolling papers that are for the most part bought to roll an illegal substance, and they have no tax on it at all. I would think we could raise some revenue by it," he said.