Mississippi State Senator Files Bill to Tax Vapor Products

Mississippi State Senator Davis Blount filed Senate Bill 2062, which would tax e-cigarettes and vaping products. The Northside Sun reported the bill calls for the same 15 percent excise tax as cigarettes.

“I continue to believe that electronic cigarettes and vaping products ought to be taxed at the same rate as regular cigarettes,” Blount told the Northside Sun. “There are different ways of taxing these products since some of them are in liquid form. I’m open to any way that works, but the simplest way is to just tax them like a pack of cigarettes based on their retail price.”

Two years ago, Blount authored a similar bill that was approved by the Finance Committee for a floor vote, where it missed the three-fifths majority for passage by one vote. A three-fifths majority is required on any tax-related issue, according to Senate rules.

Blount has gone for a more simplistic approach in this year’s bill. Instead of a 5 cent levy on every liquid milliliter of nicotine like in his previous bill, e-cigarettes would be taxed at the same 15 percent rate as conventional cigarettes.

According to the state Department of Revenue, Mississippi’s tobacco tax generated $145 million in revenue in fiscal 2021, which ended June 30.