If Washington State Governor Jay Inslee gets his way, electronic cigarette smokers will soon be helping to fill the state budget gap. He wants to impose a 95% tax on any and all vapor products.
The tax hike was one of several the governor outlined in his budget plan, announced on Thursday.
Instantly, it was met with criticism from the American Vaping Association, as well as Washington-based vapor shops.
“A 95% tax would do a few different things,” said Kim Thompson, who owns The Vaporium in Fife. “One, it would demonize a product, make it look as though it was as bad as smoking. The other thing is that it would make vaping and traditional cigarettes more similar in pricing. It would give us less incentive to the smoke to say, hey, give this a try.”
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