opinion

Subsidizing e-cigarettes? What are we smoking?

An e-cigarette company is moving some manufacturing jobs to Mesa. I guess that's good news.

But under Arizona's indiscriminate incentive programs, state taxpayers may be underwriting the move by a cool $9,000 a job. If the e-cigarette manufacturer hits the required wage and health insurance minimum requirements, the tax credit is automatic.

I don't favor regulating and taxing e-cigarettes the same as cigarettes, the threat of which reportedly drove the e-cigarette manufacturer out of Washington to Mesa. But it hardly seems like an industry the state should be subsidizing either.

Reach Robb at robert.robb@arizonarepublic.com.