The legislature in the new US state of Washington passed a new sales tax on vapor products. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Gerry Pollet, taxes closed systems such as Juul at $0.27 per milliliter. Open systems with refillable cartridges will be taxed at $0.09 per milliliter.
The tax is expected to raise $19.1 million in revenue over the course of two years. Half of the funds are slated for the state’s public health services account, with the remaining set to fund cancer research, programs designed to prevent tobacco/vape use among teens, and enforcement.
Washington’s brick-and-mortar vape shop owners are in a state of shock. They say the tax will force them to shut down, according to an article on the thestranger.com “It’s definitely going to be devastating,” said Zach McLain, who runs Future Vapor in Seattle, according to the article. “I’m going to try to figure something out so we don’t have to pass the tax onto the consumer, but other stores like mine will have to close.”
Kim Thompson, owner of The Vaporium and president of the Pink Lung Brigade, is quoted in the article as saying, “We are calling this what it truly is. This is the bill that Juul built.”