INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana lawmakers are close to approving a new state tax on vaping products even as a proposed increase in the state’s cigarette tax has been derailed.
The plan backed by state Senate Republicans for the e-cigarette tax, however, is being lambasted by health advocates as inadequate to discourage vaping.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ryan Mishler says the vaping tax was meant “to tell these kids it’s dangerous and to have a parity with tobacco.”
But the Indiana Chamber of Commerce president says the Senate’s proposed tax amounts to “a measly one-tenth” of the state’s cigarette tax and is “arguably worse than no increase at all.”