Kentucky House passes tax on vaping products and ups tax on chewing tobacco, snuff
The Kentucky House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that would create a tax on vaping products and increase taxes on snuff and chewing tobacco.
House Bill 32, which is projected to raise $50 million over the next two years, is aimed at curbing vaping and smokeless tobacco use in a state with one of the highest cancer rates in the country while also raising much needed revenue for a cash-strapped budget.
The bill passed 75-17 and now goes to the Senate.
Rep. Jerry Miller, R-Louisville, said the goal of the bill is to make it more expensive for people to purchase products that could be harmful to their health.
“We know that for brains under 26 they’re still developing and nicotine will just spur addiction and other issues,” Miller said. “We’ve seen some kids addicted to the point where they’re having to give up athletics because it affects them physically.”
Citing high rates of vaping among teenagers, lawmakers have been shifting their focus to the growing industry. Miller has a companion bill, House Bill 69, that adds regulations to the sale of vaping products.
The tax bill would raise the wholesale tax on “other tobacco products” from 15 percent to 20 percent and subject vaping products to the tax.
Vaping companies in Kentucky have pushed back on the legislation, saying their product is intended to help people quit smoking.
“The bottom line is, the people here are Mom and Pop stores that are truly here to try and help people. We’re not here to try and addict a new generation,” Troy LeBlanc, a Louisville vape shop owner told a House Committee earlier this month. “We’re here to help people quit smoking.”
Gov. Andy Beshear proposed an increased tax on vaping and tobacco products to help balance his proposed budget last month, but Miller’s bill differs from the governor’s proposal in several ways. Beshear proposed raising the cigarette tax by 10 cents a pack and creating a tax on vaping liquid. Miller’s bill did neither.
He said the governor’s proposal would have taxed vaping products on a volume basis, which he said is the way companies like JUUL want to be taxed.
“I don’t want to tax JUUL the way JUUL wants to be taxed,” he said. “I want to tax it on an equal basis, which is wholesale.”
The bill would only allow a store licensed by Kentucky’s Alcoholic Beverage Control to sell flavored vape products or vape products with a nicotine level higher than 5.1 percent.
“Some of the business will be pushed over into licensed vape shops, so if they get a $200 license, they could have more people coming in,” Miller said.
