California voters by a nearly two-thirds margin approved a ballot measure to raise the tax on cigarettes by USD 2 (EUR 1.81) and impose duties on vaping products, the Associated Press reported.

It was the first increase in state tobacco taxes since 1998 and raised duty on a pack of 20 cigarettes to USD 2.87, the AP said. Tobacco companies spent more than USD 71 million to block passage of Proposition 56, the news agency said.
Only about a half-dozen states tax both cigarettes and e-cigarettes, the AP said. Much of the revenue from the tax increase is earmarked for a program that pays health care costs for the poor. Similar ballot measures failed in Colorado, Missouri and North Dakota.