From the AP via WTOP: Lawmaker Proposes Hefty Tax on Bongs:
Bongs and water pipes are billed as tobacco accessories – but one Maryland lawmaker says everyone knows they’re used to smoke illegal drugs and should be heavily taxed.
Democratic Sen. Anthony Muse of Prince George’s County proposed a bill Wednesday to add a $20 tax to tobacco paraphernalia.
Muse says the tobacco accessories are now subject only to the regular 6 percent state sales tax. He says the $20 tax proposal isn’t intended to raise revenue, but to act as a deterrent for young people who smoke marijuana.
Muse sponsored a new Maryland law that requires people to be at least 18, the legal smoking age, before buying tobacco accessories such as bongs. Muse says he’d like to outlaw bongs because they’re so seldom used to smoke legal products, but he knows such a bill would not pass.