Tim Walz Tried to Raise Taxes on Low-Income Tobacco and Vape Users

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has no qualms about raising taxes on working households, a trait he shares with his new boss, Kamala Harris.

As governor in 2021, Walz tried to impose a large tax increase on low-income Minnesotans including:

A 33% increase in the tobacco excise to over $4 per pack.

A new 95% sales tax on vape devices on top of the existing tax on vaping liquids.

If passed it would have made the Minnesota tobacco tax not only the highest in the midwest, but one of the highest in the country. This would have damaged local businesses and cost jobs as sales went to the black market.

What’s more, Gov. Walz’s extreme budget would have expanded the state’s already staggering ninety five percent tax on people who have quit smoking through reduced risk cigarette alternatives like e-cigarettes.

That’s right, for Gov. Walz a ninety five percent tax on vaping liquids – already the highest in the country – wasn’t enough. This is despite research from the National Bureau of Economic Research showing that the already-record high vaping tax “increased adult smoking and reduced smoking cessation in Minnesota” and that, an estimated 32,400 fewer people quit in the years following its imposition.

The Walz proposals were eventually blocked thanks to the tireless efforts of taxpayer advocates in the Minnesota Senate.

But in pushing these radical tax hikes on low-income Americans, Gov. Walz showed loud and clear he is no friend of consumers, taxpayers or small businesses.

Stay tuned to ATR’s Kamalanomics.org for updates.