Rahm Emmanuel’s bid to raise Chicago’s smoking age to 21 and drive up tobacco taxes has been dealt a bitter blow by the city’s aldermen.
A host of city politicians stalled the anti-tobacco package Monday, arguing the $6 million tax increase on tobacco would result in a booming black market and a big hit on small businesses.
The City Council Finance Committee heard three hours of intense debate where a lawsuit was threatened if the measures were passed. In the end, the tobacco restrictions were not brought to a vote.
Chairman of the Black Caucus Ald. Roderick Sawyer, of Chicago’s 6th Ward, said businesses were struggling under the weight of the city’s high tax regime and added that the mayor’s tobacco package would hit the black community hardest.
“We’re having a problem with taxes and with our retailers. And the big problem is, quite frankly, I believe ordinances like this that devastate communities of color in particular or those of a lower socio-economic background,” Sawyer said.
The Finance Committee heard from lobbyists and retailers that higher taxes would lead to a rise in sales of loose cigarettes or “loosies” on the black market and would drive legitimate stores out of business.
The spokeswoman for the Illinois Retail Merchant Association Tanya Triche, argued tobacco sales are “a critical profit center for convenience stores and gas stations” and warned that “the illegal sale of cigarettes is on the rise.” Chicago currently has the nation’s highest cigarette tax at $7.17 per pack.
Emanuel wants to levy a 90-cent tax on larger cigars and a $1.80 per ounce on smokeless tobacco as well as a $6.60-per-ounce tax on roll-your-own tobacco.
“Mayor Emanuel has stood up to the tobacco industry countless times throughout his career to reduce youth smoking, and he’s not about to back down now,” the mayor’s office said in an emailed statement.
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