Utah’s governor wants to tax vaping at the same rate as cigarettes, citing a growing use among teens

Author: Bethany Rodgers / Source: The Salt Lake Tribune

A puff on a vape pen and a wad of chewing tobacco both deliver a dose of nicotine, but only one of these products gives Utah tax collectors their fix.

That’s because the 86 percent tax that applies to products like chewing and pipe tobacco doesn’t extend to electronic cigarettes, devices with a surging popularity among Utah’s youth.

According to Gov. Gary Herbert, it’s time for vaping consumers to pay up.

Herbert’s budget proposal, released earlier this month, recommends taxing electronic cigarettes like traditional tobacco products, in part out of concern about increased youth vaping, which is rising nationwide.

“Use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) by youth has grown at an alarming rate,” the governor’s budget documents state. “The governor recommends treating electronic cigarette liquid, devices and paraphernalia the same as traditional tobacco products under Utah’s tax code.”

Surveys show vaping rates among Utah students — in grades 8, 10 and 12 — shot up from 5.8 percent in 2013 to 11.1 percent in 2017, according to the state’s Health Department. Research is limited on the potential health effects of e-cigarettes, but the U.S. surgeon general has warned that…

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