{"id":37180,"date":"2014-05-29T07:00:32","date_gmt":"2014-05-28T21:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=37180"},"modified":"2014-05-29T07:00:32","modified_gmt":"2014-05-28T21:00:32","slug":"1-25-increase-cigarette-tax-within-four-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/1-25-increase-cigarette-tax-within-four-years\/","title":{"rendered":"$1.25 increase in cigarette tax within four years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cigarette tax would be increased by a total of $1.25 in a four-year span starting with a 75-cent increase upon enactment into law and an additional 50 cents after three years, under a House bill that the Senate passed at 4:46pm yesterday. <\/p>\n

For senators, the \u201cgradual\u201d $1.25 cigarette tax hike is more reasonable compared to the original House version of outright $2 increase in tax for every 20 cigarette sticks. <\/p>\n

House Bill 18-118, Senate Draft 2 goes back to the House for action. House floor leader Ralph Demapan (Cov-Saipan) authored the bill.<\/p>\n

At present, cigarette tax in the CNMI is $2 a pack. A pack has 20 sticks. <\/p>\n

If the House approves the Senate amendment, then cigarette tax will become $2.75 as soon as the bill becomes law, and then to $3.25 after three years.<\/p>\n

The cigarette tax hike bill passed the Senate by a vote of 7-0. <\/p>\n

Three of the senators\u2014Sens. Jack Borja (Ind-Tinian), Pete Reyes (Ind-Saipan), and Ray Yumul (Ind-Saipan)\u2014voted \u201cwith reservation.\u201d <\/p>\n

The other \u201cyes\u201d votes were from Sens. Jovita Taimanao (Ind-Rota), Frank Cruz (R-Tinian), vice president Victor Hocog (R-Rota), and Senate President Ralph Torres (R-Saipan). Sen. Frank Borja (Ind-Tinian) left the session earlier, while Sen. Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota) was excused from the session.<\/p>\n

The Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee, chaired by Taimanao, reviewed and recommended the bill\u2019s passage in the form of Draft 1. Under the committee report, the increase would be 50 cents right away and another 50 cents after three years.<\/p>\n

During the session, however, Taimanao offered a floor amendment that sets a $2.75 cigarette tax per 20 cigarette sticks upon the bill\u2019s enactment into law, or a 75-cent increase from the current $2 a pack. <\/p>\n

Taimanao\u2019s floor amendment includes bringing the cigarette tax to $3.25 per 20 cigarettes after three years, or another 50-cent hike. Senators adopted the floor amendment.<\/p>\n

During the session, Taimanao said the Fiscal Affairs Committee sees the need to deter people from engaging in harmful habits such as smoking, which the panel said is a contributing factor to non-communicable diseases, so they recommend passage of the cigarette tax hike bill. But at the same time, they recognize that a \u201cgradual\u201d increase in cigarette tax would be \u201cmore palatable\u201d to the business community.<\/p>\n

The Senate version of HB 18-118 also sets aside 50 percent of all excise taxes collected for deposit in an account to fund the payment of the CNMI government\u2019s share of the Group Health and Life Insurance benefits, and for enforcement. <\/p>\n

Others
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\"Gov.<\/a>
Gov. Eloy S. Inos swears in the newest member of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. board of directors, businessman Joseph T. Torres, at the Governor\u2019s Office yesterday, shortly after being confirmed at the Legislature. (Office of the Governor)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nBy a vote of 8-0 at 2:37pm yesterday, the Senate also confirmed Gov. Eloy S. Inos\u2019 appointment of Joseph T. Torres to serve on the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. board of directors.<\/p>\n

Five minutes later, senators also confirmed by an 8-0 vote the governor\u2019s re-appointment of Diego Songao to the Commonwealth Development Authority board of directors.<\/p>\n

The governor swore in Torres immediately after the Senate confirmation, press secretary Angel Demapan said. Demapan said Songao has not been scheduled yet for swearing-in \u201cpending his travel to Saipan from Rota.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Senate also adopted Hocog\u2019s commemorative resolution honoring former Rota mayor Prudencio Taisacan Manglona for his public service and leadership. Senators presented a framed copy of the resolution to Manglona, now 80, at the hospital on Tuesday night. <\/p>\n

Senators spoke of Manglona\u2019s \u201cexemplary, innovative, and progressive leadership in public service, community building, and economic development.\u201d Manglona served as Rota mayor from 1978 to 1994.<\/p>\n

At yesterday\u2019s session, four of Manglona\u2019s 48 grandchildren attended the Senate session to witness the resolution\u2019s formal adoption. They included Dean, Savana, Donavan, and Thomas Manglona. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cigarette tax would be increased by a total of $1.25 in a four-year span starting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":37183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[33,26,194,122],"class_list":["post-37180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-angel-demapan","tag-cnmi","tag-house-bill","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}