INDIANAPOLIS — Certain vaping products now cost more in the Hoosier state — that's because Indiana's newest vape tax went into effect Friday, July 1.
According to the bill's author, Sen. Travis Holdman, a 15% tax now covers closed-system vaping products, like Juuls, for example. These products are pre-filled and ready to be used when purchased, .
On the other hand, open-system vaping products are filled manually and are often considered more dangerous. Those products have been taxed at 15% since 2021.
Holdman said this new tax was designed to bring parity to the closed-system products.
Byran Hannon, the regional government relations director for the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network, works at the local, state and federal level to prevent all types of cancers, while also working to help cancer patients get the treatment they need.
"One reason why we go after parity in our advocacy work and make sure these things are treated equally is we want to make sure people aren't discouraged to quit, and that they don't seek out cheaper, more affordable products when one product goes up," Hannon said.
Holdman agreed with Hannon's reasoning.
"I think if they pay a 15% tax on anything, it would make me think twice about whether or not it's a wise move or not, because typically, when we tax something at that high rate, it's because we have a concern about its use and how it's going to be utilized in our culture," Holdman said. "I think folks need to think twice if they really want to pay a 15% tax on something that might be questionable."
According to Hannon, the long-term effects of using e-cigarettes are still being studied, but he said experts do know vaping can become addictive and act as a gateway to regular cigarettes for young people.
This comes as the tobacco tax in Indiana has not been raised in 16 years, according to Hannon. He says nearly one-third of cancer deaths in Indiana are attributed to tobacco use.
"Our job, as advocates, is to push lawmakers to do more to protect the health of Hoosiers," Hannon said. "That really starts with what we consider to be low-hanging fruit. Tackling tobacco use really is low-hanging fruit."
Hannon said the current Indiana tax is 99 cents per pack, which is almost $1 less than the national average.
According to Hannon, taxing vaping products is a step in the right direction when it comes to preventing use in the Hoosier state, but he said more work also needs to be done to increase the state's tobacco tax.
"That would generate hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue that we could reinvest in public health, things like tobacco prevention, but many other public health programs are really lagging," Hannon said. "Indiana ranks 48th in the country in per capita public health funding, so it is kind of a win-win. We can raise the tax, help people quit smoking and then raise that revenue and reinvest in public health programs that improve health across the board."
Holdman believes there is room to increase the vaping tax in the future, which is far lower than the tax on tobacco.
"I'm open to making a change in that," Holdman said. "I can see where some folks think that the open-system maybe needs to be even higher than the closed-system because we don't know what the product is or what's contained in the product that's being added to the vaping devices itself. I do have some concerns that the open-system maybe should have been higher in the 2021 session, but that's an argument for another day."
"It's important that we not just pass taxes but that we pass them in ways that are effective," Hannon said.
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