House Committee creates and approves a new state tax on nicotine vapor

Pat Powers

Attaching it to the law on tobacco taxation, in the past week, House Health and Human Services Committee did something that no one has really spoken much about.  An empty hoghouse vehicle bill of freshman State Representative Carl Perry’s that was taken by State Representative Tim Rounds who tucked a brand new tax on nicotine vapor into the state’s tobacco statute:

After being deferred until this week, the new tax was voted on by the committee, who all approved of the new vapor tax.  Well… almost all of them, as the measure found Representative Rounds as the lone vote against his proposed 35% tax on vapor.

Hopefully we can restrain any further new taxes on vapors. I wouldn’t want the Democrats to get any ideas.

22 thoughts on “House Committee creates and approves a new state tax on nicotine vapor”

      1. That would make 98% of the legislature Democrats and would prove that it only takes the letter R behind your name to get elected. You don’t get to call everyone a D just because they don’t follow your standards.

        1. “That would make 98% of the legislature Democrats”
          I know that I went to public school but I don’t think I said 103 of our legislatures were Democrats in hiding.

          ” and would prove that it only takes the letter R behind your name to get elected.”
          There are several Democrats who run on the Republican ticket. Look at the voting records.

          ” You don’t get to call everyone a D just because they don’t follow your standards.”
          Sure I do, I live by a set of standards and if a person doesn’t follow the standards I live by, I am free to label them any way I want.

          1. Yeah ,you said tax raising Republicans are just Democrats. I can count on one hand the number of Republicans who haven’t supported a tax increase in the past 5 years, so by your standards, yeah, a majority are Democrats.

  2. Yes. Let’s keep people on combustible cigarettes! Go Big Tobacco!

    So what’s to stop someone from building their own vape juice? You can buy bulk vegetable glycerin, flavorings, and bulk nicotine off amazon for dirt cheap. You can also buy batteries, a tube to put them in, and some kanthal wire to make your own vape device.

    Stupid change, stupid tax, stupid legislator.

    1. Love your posts Ike, you’re certainly educated on topics you post about. This can’t look good for Noem who said she wouldn’t raise or create taxes. Doesn’t matter if she had a hand in it or not, there’s now a new tax in SD.

      Also looking forward to the post about Noem not wanting to repeal Presumptive Probation. Seems Ravnsberg isn’t off to a great start.

      2. I’m not sure what this has to to with Kristi. I suspect it has a long uphill way to go before it gets to the gov.

        1. Hope you’re correct – problem is that many states are now taxing vaping just like cigarettes. Big Tobacco is dumping millions into state legislatures and city councils to put vaping on equal footing with smokes. Don’t fall for the baloney they spout!

          The very simple fact is that vaping is LESS harmful than cigarettes, and is MORE effective than nicotine patches or gum at helping people quit tobacco. I’m a case in point – smoked for 30 years – tried EVERYTHING. Patches, gum, cold turkey, hypnosis, Wellbutrin, and even friggin’ suicide Chantix. Started vaping 24mg and quit the stinkies. Down to 6mg now, and have just ordered a few 100 ml’s of 3mg. Planning on being done altogether by this time next year.

          Kids: don’t smoke. If you do, vaping is a safER alternative. If you don’t vape to quit smoking, DON’T START. Nicotine SUCKS.

          1. Good post. Glad you’ve (almost) kicked the habit. I’m not sure what ‘big tobacco’ is doing but (based on the studies I’ve read) I’ll concur w/ Ike that inhaling tobacco vapor is less medically harmful than smoking cigarettes.

          2. Ike, maybe you can claim that there are not as many harmful effects from vaping, but to say it is a safer alternative is incorrect. In our school we are dealing with vaping in the school. Devices are easy to hide. Imagine grabbing one of your nicotine fix in one easy puff as opposed to having to consume an entire cigarette. Kids are flavoring their devices to make them tastier and as you point out, you can cut down on the amount of nicotine taken in. They can also bump up the amount of nicotine consumed. There are also several health concerns that have not been addressed. https://www.newportacademy.com/resources/substance-abuse/teen-vaping-health-risks/
            Your last sentence is spot on. Don’t start!

            1. Old people like flavors, too. In fact, had it not been for banana cream, I may not have been able to quit. :p

  4. Wow! I had to pick up my jaw when I seen this.

    First, at tax is suppose to reimburse a government for services related to that product. For example a wheel tax is suppose to help build and maintain roads. A tobacco (sin) tax should have been established to offset the cost to the community of treating smoking related illnesses, and some toward to stop smoking ad campaigns.

    There have been many studies that show smoking is harmful. There are precious few studies that break down the cigarette smoke to it’s ingredients and what affect those ingredients have on the body. The one thing we do know is that nicotine is the addictive part of tobacco smoke.

    In this case there just isn’t enough data to support that vaping causes any more or less harm than cigarettes. This bill preemptive a product that we have no real hard data on. We need more information. There is some real immediate dangers with vaping, batteries can explode, the nicotine used, can be intoxicating, even deadly. We don’t know all the long term health effects, yet

    Second, vaping has been used effectively to stop smoking just was well as the much higher priced pharmaceuticals. Anyone who know addiction know full well what works for one person doesn’t work for everyone. To me it makes more sense to make as many product available to help people quit as possible.

    Vaping, like smoking, is very addictive. I don’t recommend to any non-smoker, adult or otherwise. This tax isn’t about keeping people safe, it more about replacing lost revenue from people not smoking with something else

    This bill should be debated, then killed.

    1. If you want to follow a huge tax increase-watch the debate on HB 1139 and HB 1141. Both bills will cancel the limits put on capital outlay taxes in the education/property tax deal done in 2016. The $2,800 per student limit is not scheduled to go into effect until property taxes paid in 2021, but legislators from both parties are working to repeal the limits. Reconsideration of 1139 happens on the House floor this afternoon.

  5. Otherwise seemingly conservative Republicans in South Dakota have a strong interventionist instinct. Borne out of a moralistic paternalism, some elected officials in the SDGOP can’t help themselves when it comes to using the power of the government to enforce their will on others. I first became aware of this strain within the party when the state legislature proposed and passed a ban on smoking in all private businesses. We see it again today as the GOP steps forward to be the party of taxation as social engineering in an effort to curtail a legal behavior they themselves happen to dislike.

  6. A simple fact is that vape products are readily bought online and tobacco is not. One google search will turn up 100 online retailers from out of state that will gladly ship their product right to your door. They would reside outside the state of SD and be exempt from the tax which means they will be able to sell their product 35% cheaper causing yet another product to be bought out of state and shipped in. Local business spend money locally. The same local business’s that this measure would price out fo the market.

  7. Any “Republican” who votes for this tax deserves to have a primary opponent in 2020. It’s time for Republicans to act like Republicans. Lower taxes, less regulation. Period.

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