State Senator says tobacco, vape tax hike would hurt small business

(FOX 2) - With the anti-smoking lobby pushing hard to raise the state tobacco tax on vaping and e-cigarettes, there will be those opposed to that tax increase.

On this one point, you are likely to find majority support in the legislature.

"I'm all for a conversation about getting vaping out of kids' hands 100 percent," State Sen. Joe Bellino said.

That's the easy part, but not so easy is the tax increase embedded in the bill, to get the job done.

Tim Skubick: "So you're a no vote?"

"I'm a no vote the way it is written right now," Bellino said.

The senator speaks from experience.  At one time he was the owner of a retail store in Monroe, near the Ohio border.

It was around that time when Gov. Jennifer Granholm spearheaded a hefty hike in the state tobacco tax.

Back home in his little store in southern, southeast Michigan, Bellino says his store took a financial hit.

"Overnight I lost 25% of my business," he said. "My store was 17 miles from the border. They bought their beer with no deposit, their pop, they bought their gasoline. How much of our tax dollars did we lose because of that? We lost hundreds of millions of dollars and I'm not sure this is the right way to do it."

The head of the public health department coalition which is pushing the legislation will be asked by Bellino and others to find another way to keep kids safe from smoking without putting a tax on anybody.

"I think there are some things to change in this bill to get me to a 'yes' vote," he said.

What those things are is yet to be determined, as the senate prepares for its first public hearing on all this soon.