This proposed tax seems certain to contribute to a greater incidence of lung diseases going forward.
In the scramble to search for revenue to fund President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan, House Budget Chair John Yarmuth (D‑KY) added a nicotine tax to the ever-changing proposal.
The proposed tax wouldn’t raise the price of traditional cigarettes, which are already taxed at the federal level, but it would introduce a massive new tax on e-cigarettes and other smoking alternatives, which research shows are dramatically safer options for smokers.
A 6 milligram (nicotine)/30 milliliter bottle of e-liquid, for example, would be taxed at a rate of $5.01 under the proposal. A typical pack of e-liquid pods would be taxed at $4.59. The federal tax on cigarettes is $1.01 per pack. Thus, e-cigarettes would be taxed more than regular cigarettes, and dramatically more so in states that already levy their own high e-cigarette taxes.
Michael Pesko of Georgia State University, one of the country’s leading economists when it comes to analyzing the effect of e-cigarette taxes, estimates the new tax on nicotine alternatives would cause 2.7 million more daily adult smokers, 530,000 more teen smokers, and 29,000 more prenatal smokers.
Guy Bentley – Reason Foundation – 2021-11-10.
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