Sales tax in Sonoma County goes up April 1; cigarette costs skyrocket from state tax

Taxes are going up in Sonoma County today, no joke.

But unless you’re a smoker, the changes may not be obvious.

California’s sales tax rate dropped by a quarter point on Jan. 1 to 7.25 percent. Sonoma County was among a record 66 cities and counties where voters last November approved add-on taxes.

Measure Y, the county’s voter-approved library tax, goes into effect today, increasing the tax on purchases made in the county by an eighth of a cent.

Sales taxes going forward will range from 8.125 percent in unincorporated areas of the county and the cities of Cloverdale, Windsor and Petaluma, to a high of 9.125 percent in Cotati.

The sales tax tied to Measure Y will pump $10 million annually into the Sonoma County Library’s $17 million budget.

“I’m still pinching myself every day. I still can’t believe we passed this thing,” Library Director Brett Lear said Friday.

Lear said the most obvious benefit of the new revenue will be the re-opening of library branches on Mondays, starting the first Monday in May.

Branches will be open from ?10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Mondays, as well as on Wednesdays, by adding an additional hour on those days.

The county library also is on a major hiring spree using the tax revenue, with upward of 45 positions needing to be filled, according to Lear. Programs also are expanding.

“We’re really ramping up the number of educational workshops and events we’re offering, probably by five-fold,” Lear said.

The news for smokers is not so good. Today, the cigarette tax rate mushrooms from the current ?87 cents to $2.87 per pack of 20 cigarettes.

At a Santa Rosa shop, a pack of Natural American Spirit cigarettes was going for $7.95 Friday. Today, that will increase to at least $9.95. The average cost for a pack of cigarettes statewide in 2016 was $5.76.

The new tax is the result of voters approving Proposition 56.

“Smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death across the country,” Karen Milman, the county’s health officer, said. “Increases in tobacco taxes will decrease tobacco use. This will move us to be a healthier county.”

An estimated 1 in 10 Sonoma County adults are current smokers based on most recent data.

There are approximately 570 smoking-related deaths each year in the county.

Also today, the distribution of “nicotine-delivery devices” such as electronic cigarettes and vape pens that are sold in combination with substances containing nicotine will be subject to a tax rate of 27.3 percent of the wholesale cost of the product.