Looks to me as if 1ml. of e-juice roughly corresponds to a pack of analog ciggies (for those of us who used to smoke the latter). That's what I hear from others, and it matches up w/ my own vaping behavior pretty well - roughly 1-1/3 packs of analog ciggies per day were replaced by about 1.6 ml. of e-juice.
So what will the #s look like when various gov'ts start taxing e-juice at the same rate as analog ciggies? I was fairly stunned when I ran them. If 15 ml. of e-juice is taxed at the same rate as 15 packs of analog cig.s, you are going to be paying taxes of $103 on it in NYC (highest combined tax rate in the country - $6.86 total) or $17.55 in MO (lowest rate, $1.18). The average state (dependning on how you compute the average) is about $4, so that would be $60 on 15 ml.
Using Johnson Creek prices (about $10/15 ml.), that means over 90% of the price of 15 ml. of e-juice in NYC will be taxes. In an average state, the tax percentage would still be over 80%.
Things get more interesting when you look at higher-concentration "DIY" e-juices. Presumably the gov't will set some kind of standard, like taxing the DIY e-juices depending on how many ml.s of finished product one ml. of concentrate can produce. So if you buy (say) 10% (100mg/ml) concentrate, the gov't might set the taxes at 10 times the tax on a pack of analogs (per ml.).
Let's see, that means a liter (which is basically a quart) of 10% e-juice will carry the taxes of 10,000 packs of cigarettes. In NYC, that comes to $68,600. Even in MO it's $11,800. For the average state it would be $40,000.
Interesting consequences for organized crime, eh? 100% water-soluable nicotine would probably become the most valuable product to smuggle by weight or by volume - worth more than anything except maybe diamonds and other precious stones (but a lot easier to obtain if one has the right training and equipment: in fact much easier than most if not all illegal drugs). Of course the gov't could simply ban highly-concentrated water-soluble nicotine (or require a license to purchase/possess/manufactur it).
But I hardly see the difference between taxes at these rates and an outright ban (or strict licensing requirements).
And if you want to quibble with my rough approximation of 1 ml. of e-juice to a pack of analog ciggies, go ahead and fiddle a bit. Maybe it's 2ml? Or 0.5ml? Hardly matters, does it?
Of course the gov't could start tightly controlling VG (doing it for PG by itself would probably have little effect). But as far as I can tell, millions of tons of food-grade VG is used in all sorts of food applications as well as soap, costmetics, etc. Not exactly a practical strategy. And taxing e-equipment is probably a loser for the gov't as well, because vapers would stop using disposable equipment.
So pretty soon we'll be able to say "goodbye" to narcotics cartels, and "hello" to nicotine cartels. Terrorists everywhere will fund their organizations with smuggled high-concentration nicotine.
And maybe the CIA will start importing it, in order to fund secret wars. (Oh wait, that was Iran-Contra. That can't happen again ... can it
Happy vapin'
--roger
So what will the #s look like when various gov'ts start taxing e-juice at the same rate as analog ciggies? I was fairly stunned when I ran them. If 15 ml. of e-juice is taxed at the same rate as 15 packs of analog cig.s, you are going to be paying taxes of $103 on it in NYC (highest combined tax rate in the country - $6.86 total) or $17.55 in MO (lowest rate, $1.18). The average state (dependning on how you compute the average) is about $4, so that would be $60 on 15 ml.
Using Johnson Creek prices (about $10/15 ml.), that means over 90% of the price of 15 ml. of e-juice in NYC will be taxes. In an average state, the tax percentage would still be over 80%.
Things get more interesting when you look at higher-concentration "DIY" e-juices. Presumably the gov't will set some kind of standard, like taxing the DIY e-juices depending on how many ml.s of finished product one ml. of concentrate can produce. So if you buy (say) 10% (100mg/ml) concentrate, the gov't might set the taxes at 10 times the tax on a pack of analogs (per ml.).
Let's see, that means a liter (which is basically a quart) of 10% e-juice will carry the taxes of 10,000 packs of cigarettes. In NYC, that comes to $68,600. Even in MO it's $11,800. For the average state it would be $40,000.
Interesting consequences for organized crime, eh? 100% water-soluable nicotine would probably become the most valuable product to smuggle by weight or by volume - worth more than anything except maybe diamonds and other precious stones (but a lot easier to obtain if one has the right training and equipment: in fact much easier than most if not all illegal drugs). Of course the gov't could simply ban highly-concentrated water-soluble nicotine (or require a license to purchase/possess/manufactur it).
But I hardly see the difference between taxes at these rates and an outright ban (or strict licensing requirements).
And if you want to quibble with my rough approximation of 1 ml. of e-juice to a pack of analog ciggies, go ahead and fiddle a bit. Maybe it's 2ml? Or 0.5ml? Hardly matters, does it?
Of course the gov't could start tightly controlling VG (doing it for PG by itself would probably have little effect). But as far as I can tell, millions of tons of food-grade VG is used in all sorts of food applications as well as soap, costmetics, etc. Not exactly a practical strategy. And taxing e-equipment is probably a loser for the gov't as well, because vapers would stop using disposable equipment.
So pretty soon we'll be able to say "goodbye" to narcotics cartels, and "hello" to nicotine cartels. Terrorists everywhere will fund their organizations with smuggled high-concentration nicotine.
And maybe the CIA will start importing it, in order to fund secret wars. (Oh wait, that was Iran-Contra. That can't happen again ... can it
Happy vapin'
--roger
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