Concerned about the health dangers of e cigarettes affecting the younger population, Vermont placed a 92 percent tax on e cigarettes effective this month.

The tax is not designed to increase revenue, even though a slight revenue increase will probably be seen, said Vermont State Rep. George Till, who sponsored the bill. He said the main goal is to keep teens from buying vape products, and he believes the best way to do that is to put the merchandise out of their price range.

Before the new law went into effect, e cigarettes were taxed at the state’s six percent sales tax.

Rep. Till told CBS MoneyWatch, “We know the group that is most sensitive to price is teenager, and we know that these companies are going out of their way to get kids addicted.”

The new 92 percent tax is identical to the tax on snuff, which is a smokeless tobacco that is inhaled or “snuffed” up the nose or placed between the lower lip or cheek and gum. Nicotine is absorbed through the lining of the nose or mouth. Pipe tobacco also is already taxed at 92 percent.

The new tax will not cover packs of regular cigarettes, which are already taxed at $3.08 per Vermont law.

Bills to Protect Youth from Health Dangers of E Cigarettes

Two other laws regarding vaping went into effect on July 1 in Vermont. The state raised the legal age to purchase and use tobacco products and e cigarettes to 21, from the previous age limit of 18.

Vermont also now restricts both retail and internet sales of “tobacco products, tobacco substitutes, substances containing nicotine or otherwise intended for use with a tobacco substitute, or tobacco paraphernalia” unless the seller is a licensed wholesale dealer or has originally purchased the merchandise from a licensed wholesale dealer.

Rep. Till is also a doctor, and said that even though some e cigarette devices might be safer than cigarettes and some might be more dangerous, the true facts are unknown.

Vermont Gov. Phil Scott supported the 92 percent tax, and expressed his fear of kids using e cigs in his fiscal year 2020 budget speech in which he said the use among Vermont’s teens nearly doubled between 2017 and 2018.

Rep. Till told the VTDigger that the large number of teens using e cigarettes means “we are at definitive risk of undoing the progress we’ve made against tobacco over the past 50 years.”

Vaping juices do not contain tobacco, which has led to an urban legend that the vapor being inhaled is only water vapor. However, vaping juices almost all contain some nicotine. JUUL pods, the most popular brand of vape juice, each contain more nicotine than found in an entire pack of cigarettes.

The University of California – Riverside has conducted research on the health dangers of e cigarettes. Researchers found the top 20 most popular e cigarette juices contain 99 different chemical flavorings. Each individual juice packet held between 22 and 47 different flavor chemicals. The most common flavor chemical, ethyl maltol, was found in more than 50 percent of products tested, and was deemed the most toxic to living cells.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.