Earlier this year the state of West Virginia proposed a tax on other tobacco products (OTP), which includes cigars at a rate of 10.5 percent. This would have been an increase from the current 7 percent as we reported on The Cigar Authority podcast.
However, in late February Representatives Allen V. Evans-R, Tom Fast-R, Barbara Evans Fleischauer-D, Mike Pushkin-D and Ruth Rowan-R introduced H.B. 2953 which would tax OTP products at the rate of 39 percent.
The bill is currently in the Health and Human Resources committee and if it passes it will move to Finance.
West Virginia is home to 1.8 million residents over 24,230 square miles and became a state in 1863.
UPDATE: The current session in West Virginia is slated to end on Saturday and according to published reports, the tax increase is not on the calendar for the remainder of this session.
