Indiana House OKs plan to tax e-cigarette liquids

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – State lawmakers on Tuesday backed a bill that would require e-cigarette smokers to paying more for their products. 

Members of the House of Representatives advanced a bill to start taxing the liquids used in e-cigarettes. The proposal sets the tax at 4 cents per milliliter of vaping liquid.

Lawmakers said they hope the tax could discourage vaping while bringing in from $2 million to $4 million a year.

The move may be in response to the American Lung Association’s “State of Tobacco Control” 2019 report:

• Tocacco remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in America killing 480,000 people each year.
• 16 milion people are currently living with tobacco-related disease
• E-cigarette use among youth increased 78 percent between 2017 and 2018.

Some lawmakers believe they may be able to bring those numbers down if they make the products harder for consumers to purchase.

The e-cigarette tax bill is now headed to the Indiana Senate for consideration.