Scott Backs 92 Percent e-Cigarette Tax to Curb Youth Use

Gov. Phil Scott on Thursday threw his support behind a 92 percent wholesale tax on Electronic Cigarette Wholesale, giving a boost to a proposal that has failed to get through the Legislature over the past few years.

The levy would bring an estimated $1 million into state coffers. But proponents portray the move as a public health initiative as surveys show more young people trying and regularly using electronic nicotine-delivery devices.

“Our kids must know the dangers of these behaviors, and we should stop it in its tracks,” Scott said in his fiscal year 2020 budget speech.Health advocates praised the idea. But the proposal was immediately panned by the American Vaping Association, an advocacy group that argues e-cigarettes are an effective stop-smoking option for adults.

“Gov. Scott was elected on the promise of making Vermont more affordable for its citizens, but apparently that pledge only extends to people who work in industries that he approves of,” said Gregory Conley, the group’s president. “Prior attempts at vapor product taxes in Vermont have sought to tax devices that don’t even contain nicotine, and if the same holds true in 2019, this will be the worst, most regressive vapor tax in the nation.”
E-cigarettes deliver nicotine via heated liquids rather than tobacco smoke. While some say e-cigarettes are a safer alternative to smoking, the devices are causing increasing alarm among health advocates due to increasing use among students in middle school and high school.

In his speech on Thursday, Scott transitioned from the opioid epidemic directly to e-cigarettes, which he called “another threat to public health.” Supplemental budget materials distributed by the Scott administration said use of e-cigarettes among Vermont youth “has increased sevenfold between 2011 and 2017.”

Scott departed from his well-publicized aversion to raising taxes to endorse an e-cigarette tax as a way to address the problem.

“I think you all know it’s not my first instinct to add a tax, but with a growing health risk for our kids, I’m proposing to levy the same tax as we do on tobacco products,” Scott said.

Vermont has a variety of tobacco taxes. A spokesperson later confirmed that Scott was referring to a 92 percent tobacco wholesale tax imposed by the state.

State Human Services Secretary Al Gobeille said the tax could be a “game-changer” to curb youth use of e-cigarettes. “This governor does not like taxes, but he’s also a dad,” Gobeille said. “This is one of those (taxes) even he supported.”
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