WDAY/WDAZ: North Dakota may soon have to decide to increase taxes on tobacco products, including e-cigarettes
Grand Forks, ND (WDAY/WDAZ TV) – North Dakota will have to decide on whether to increase taxes on not only tobacco products, but also e-cigs.
If passed, traditional cigarette tax will go from $0.44 a pack to $2.20.
Vaping product liquid tax would then increase from 28% to 56%.
Owners of SNG Vapor in Grand Forks say e-cigs have helped many people quit smoking traditional cigarettes.
A question that many people have is whether or not E-Cigs are considered tobacco products.
Public health officials and backers of the measure argue that liquid nicotine used in electronic cigarettes is but, users disagree saying that the two very different
“The FDA hasn’t made their deeming regulations. It’s not fair to lump us in with tobacco. Tobacco is combustion, tobacco is a leaf, it’s the grainy portion you know it’s the physical part it’s not a liquid. It’s not creating any fire it’s not creating a spark it’s not burning anything that’s bad for you and we’ve taken all the excess junk out of all of the between 4000 to 6000 chemicals in a normal cigarette and we dumbed it down to just four things,” said Heather Nelson of SNG Vapor.
Minnesota became the first state to tax vapor products in 2012 by imposing a tax of 95% of their wholesale price.
