Testimony before the Nevada Assembly Revenue Committee Regarding the Tax Rate on Heated Tobacco Products
- Lindsey Stroud
- Apr 1
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 10
Chairwoman Backus, Vice Chair Considine, and Members of the Taxation Committee:
Thank you for your time today to discuss the issue of reducing the tax rate on heated tobacco products in Nevada. My name is Lindsey Stroud and I’m a Creator and Manager of Tobacco Harm Reduction 101 (thr101.org), a website dedicated to examining tobacco and vapor product use among adults and youth.
As lawmakers seek to collect additional revenue, many have looked at imposing an excise tax on various types of tobacco and vapor products, including heated tobacco products. While lawmakers should refrain from imposing taxes on populations which are disproportionately impacted by taxes, it is imperative lawmakers enact taxes which are proportionate to the risks associated with using them. As such, lawmakers should refrain from imposing excessive taxes on products which are less harmful than traditional forms of smoked tobacco. Key Points:
Over the past several decades, tobacco harm reduction products have successfully helped millions of adults quit smoking combustible cigarettes.
Heated tobacco products are a reduced risk product, with one company having authorization from the federal government, to market their product as less harmful.
Around the globe, the introduction of heated tobacco products has led to declines in combustible cigarette use and the global market grew from $15.6 million in 2014 to $28.7 billion in 2021.
The FDA has authorized two heated to products in the U.S., with one product permitted to market its reduced risk to consumers.
Smoking has declined among Nevada adults. Between 2003 and 2023, the percentage of Nevadans aged 18 years or older who were currently smoking declined by 43.7 percent, from 25.2 percent of adults to 14.2 percent.
Smoking rates among young adults aged 18 to 24 years old have declined by 75.4 percent, from 25.6 percent of young adults smoking in 2003 to 6.3 percent in 2023.
Smoking prevalence was higher among lower-income and less educated persons.
In 2023, 20.4 percent of adults who reported incomes of $25,000 or less per year smoked, compared to 8.1 percent of adults who reported incomes of $50,000 or more.
Nevada adults earning $25,000 or less were 2.5 times more likely to smoke than those earning $50,000+.
Among adults who did not graduate high school, 20.1 percent reported current cigarette use, compared to 5.2 percent of college graduates. Adults without a high school diploma were 3.9 times more likely to smoke than college graduates.
Youth use of combustible cigarettes is at record lows in Nevada, with only 0.1 percent of high schoolers reporting daily cigarette use.
Legislation should recognize that tobacco products exist on a continuum of risk, with combustible cigarettes as the most harmful, and other products (including heated tobacco), posing less harm to adult consumers.
Since 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recognized this continuum of risk and in recent years the agency has developed strategies to inform adults who smoke of safer risks.
Tobacco excise taxes should recognize the risk continuum – with less harmful products being subject to less of a tax burden than combustible cigarettes.
Several states have introduced reduced tax rates on heated tobacco products.
Some states recognize heated tobacco products as a different category of tobacco products and tax them at a lower rate than traditional combustible cigarette products.
Other states have reduced the tax burden on products which have received authorization from the FDA to market the product as a reduced risk product.
Reducing the tax rate incentivizes adults who can’t quit smoking to switch to less harmful products.
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