You may already know that laws in America are strange old things. While some rules and regulations are laid down country-wide by the government, some states can – and have – brought in their own laws too.
A great example of this is the new law that came into effect on New Year’s Day in Chicago, in Illinois. The New Year came in with a bang for the stores that sell e-cigarettes and vapour products, as Chicago implemented a tax on vapour products.
The tax means every millilitre of e-liquid containing nicotine will add 55 cents to the usual price. An example given recently stated a 30-millilitre bottle of e-liquid, normally retailing for between $15 and $20, would now have an additional $16.50 added in tax.
The American Vaping Association has reacted just as you’d expect to this. They reckon the tax could put some people in the industry out of business. In addition, people who started the New Year wanting to quit smoking may now find other ways to do it – or not quit at all – thanks to the additional cost involved.
Apparently the tax is called a “floor tax”. This basically means it doesn’t just apply to new e-liquids brought into stock from New Year’s Day. If a store has, say, $10,000 worth of e-liquids, it must apply the tax to the whole lot. As the American Vaping Association has pointed out, the tax could shut down some businesses altogether. As midnight struck and 2016 came in, owners suddenly found themselves owing a significant amount to the Chicago Department of Revenue, where before midnight this wasn’t the case.
Some also believe the drive against vaping is based on misinformation. Just before the festive season got underway, the Mayor of Chicago and his public health department launched a drive to demonise vaping in the city. Clearly the tax has been brought in to discourage people from switching to vaping.
However, vapers have been fighting back. While the tax has not been abolished (too much to hope for, you’d think) vapers have argued against the #VapingTruth campaign set up on Twitter. By hijacking the hashtag, they have been trying to get the truth out there, instead of watching potential vapers being scared off from trying it by reading information that simply isn’t true.
Have you heard about this campaign and new tax? Are you directly affected by it? What’s your opinion?
