(INDIANAPOLIS) – The House has voted to tax vaping.
Legislators voted 53-40 for a measure adding a 20-cent tax on a five-milliliter bottle of e-liquid. That’s half what House Ways and Means Chairman Tim Brown (R-Crawfordsville) originally proposed, and amounts to a tax of four-to-12 cents on each vaping cartridge.
Lafayette Representative Sheila Klinker (D) says Indiana has seen the number of middle and high school students who vape nearly double. Brown, a doctor, says studies indicate many of those teenage vapers use it as a gateway to traditional cigarettes. He says e-cigarettes are the only nicotine product Indiana doesn’t tax already.
Fort Wayne Representative Bob Morris (R) argues he’s seen the opposite, with people using the lower nicotine content as a way to break their cigarette habit.
The Senate will consider the bill next month.
A separate bill to increase the cigarette tax hasn’t gotten a hearing and faces a Tuesday deadline.
(Photo: librakv/Thinkstock)
