Hawaii Considers 1600% Tax Increase on Vaping
Credit: Davis Franklin
Lawmakers in Hawaii want to tax electronic nicotine delivery systems and e-liquid products at a rate of 70 percent.
Right now, e-cigarettes only have the general excise tax (GET) of between 4.1 percent and 4.7 percent attached to them. Combustible cigarettes sold in Hawaii carry other taxes.
Rep. Scot Matayoshi and other lawmakers claim that the 70 percent tax proposed under House Bill 537 will bring vaping into tax parity with cigarettes and other nicotine products that already carry taxes in addition to the GET.
As of 2022, 696 vaping product retailers are registered in Hawaii.
Scott Rasak, a representative of Volcano eCigs, described the 70 percent tax as an industry killer, according to Civil Beat.
“Some of the bills they’re putting forward are ending people’s businesses and livelihoods that they spent the last decade building,” he said in an interview.
Rasak said that he wishes the Legislature would work more with the vaping industry to understand how it can make a positive impact on the community, instead of “targeting retailers that are responsible in selling the products under legal provisions.”
Last year, having survived a rollercoaster legislative session that saw the bill near death on multiple occasions, Hawaii’s ban on flavored e-cigarettes was signed by its governor.