Ohio Call to Action: Gov. Kasich’s Proposed Budget will impose a massive tax on vapor products

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noevilstar

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- CASAA: Ohio Call to Action: Gov. Kasich’s Proposed Budget will impose a massive tax on vapor products

Ohio Governor John Kasich has proposed a massive tax on vapor products and a hike in the tax on smokeless tobacco products to 60% of wholesale. If the Governor’s budget bill -- HB 64 (read the vapor tax portions here) -- becomes law, each 0.1 ml of nicotine-containing e-liquid would be taxed at the same rate as a cigarette. This means that 2 ml of e-liquid would be subject to the same tax as a pack of cigarettes, and a 30ml bottle would be subject to the same tax as 15 packs of cigarettes.

Governor Kasich has also proposed increasing Ohio’s cigarette tax to $2.25 per pack (from $1.25 per pack). If that tax also passes, nicotine-containing vapor products would be taxed at:



  • 10 ml bottle -- $11.25 (tax equivalent of 5 packs of cigarettes)
  • 15 ml bottle -- $16.87 (tax equivalent of 7 ½ packs of cigarettes)
  • 30 ml bottle -- $33.75 (tax equivalent of 15 packs of cigarettes)


Please take action now to oppose this attack on vapor products and other low-risk substitutes for smoking!





HB 64 is currently before the House Ways & Means Committee, which will likely hold a public hearing on Wednesday, March 4th. We urge all our members to make plans to get to Columbus on March 4th. An exceptionally strong presence from individuals who have had their lives changed by vaping could really make a difference. CASAA will update its membership when we have the full details, including time and location.




(Writing Tip #1)If you have a lot to say, please craft your email in a separate word doc and then copy/paste it into the field provided. If you take too long, they system will time out and you will lose your work.

(Writing Tip #2) Although we've provided a prewritten email with compelling talking points, we would strongly encourage you to edit the email because personalized communications to legislators are far more persuasive than form letters. At a minimum, PLEASE INSERT YOUR PERSONAL STORY (just a few sentences) in the text of your email.
 

Painter_

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Thank you for the call to action on this. Even though I have sent emails to my reps, I filled out the form and sent the letter that I sent my rep to the others. Below is a copy of what I sent.

I am contacting you regarding Governor Kasich’s proposed budget. There are many things that I do not support in the proposed budget. It shifts the burden of taxes on the poorest of the population, which is not the reason for my contact today. The reason for my note today is the proposed tax on e-cigarettes. The proposed tax has no merit and is simply a money grab. The question I have is since when have we taxed a product that helps the user escape the shackles of one of the worst products ever produced? To pass this budget with the tax on e-cigarettes still in it is nothing short of murdering people with the power of the pen.
I will attempt to head off some of the arguments you will hear and provide you with links to peer reviewed studies. But first I would like to tell you my story. I started smoking when I was 11 years old. Yes, cigarettes were banned for people under 18 but I was still able to get them. I quit over two years ago when I was forty six with the help of e-cigarettes. When I was first quitting I used nicotine but I reduced the amount until I was using e-juice with no nicotine in it. I could not achieve this with the patch or gum, I could not maintain over a month in my many attempts. Quitting using e-cigarettes was effortless.
One of the most common claim about e-cigarettes is that they are a “gateway” to smoking and “condemning many kids to struggling with a lifelong addiction to nicotine.” These statements had no basis. One recent study (1) in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (January 2015) suggests that e-cigarettes are not acting as a gateway to smoking among youth. A second study (2) in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence (February 2015) suggests the addictive potential of e-cigarettes is substantially lower than that of tobacco cigarettes. If anything e-cigarettes are a gateway away from tobacco addiction as the proposed tax demonstrates. One of the statements that Governor Kasich made is the reason for proposing the tax on vapor taxes is to offset the losses of the tobacco excise tax. Thanks to the good Governor I do not have to support my conclusion or thesis statement since he did it for me.
On to the topic of safety. This is really a low bar that we need to jump here as combustible tobacco is one of the most deadly products ever produced. If e-cigarettes were responsible for a 50% reduction in the death and harm caused by combustible tobacco would be a good thing and the government should be happily rallying around them. Most studies show that they are between 95-99% safer (3) than combustible tobacco cigarettes. So my question again why put a punitive tax on a product that could save people from the harm and death of one of the most hazardous ever produced?
I hope that from the statements I have made and the links provided you can see merit in my position and take it into consideration to have this section of the proposed budget struck before it passes the Ohio House and or the Ohio Senate. The addiction that I am concerned about is the addiction that government bodies have to tobacco excise taxes that is causing the thought process of taxing a product that is the gateway out of the tobacco addiction. Applying the proposed tax will deter smokers from quitting and to continue smoking thus continuing the harm and death combustible tobacco is responsible for.
1) http://www.ajpmonline.org/…/S0749-3797(14)0055…/fulltext
2) http://www.drugandalcoholdependence.com/…/S0376-87…/abstract
3) HRJ | Full text | A fresh look at tobacco harm reduction: the case for the electronic cigarette
 

caramel

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I did email, of course.

Whether I can go to Columbus on Mar 4 will be dependent on how I'm feeling (chronic pancreatitis) and weather. And gas money. Going on a motorcycle is probably out of the question in female business attire (skirt) :laugh: That leaves the gas guzzling truck.

Audrey_Hepburn_and_Gregory_Peck_on_Vespa_in_Roman_Holiday_trailer.jpg
 

Double J

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What Kasich thinks will be another revenue machine to make up for the lost tobacco excise tax, will actually be quite the opposite. The way I see it, the small business will eventually begin to fold once local consumers start purchasing out of state liquid and gear. Nice job Gov., way to look out for the people who voted you in office (not me). I've wrote three separate letters concerning these taxes and always get the same canned response word for word. Sorry boys and girls, they're not hearing what we have to say. They want tax revenue and that's all there is to it.
 

Painter_

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I've sent several emails to my rep and never got one response.
This was the first response I got and it was not an autoreply.

,

Thanks for your message. .I’ve forwarded it from this campaign account to my official e-mail (Rep07@ohiohouse.gov) for response and would like to talk directly if you’re willing to share a good number for me to reach you. .Alternatively, my personal mobile phone is.216-xxx-xxxx. .Remember that the governor’s proposal is just that, a proposal. .It will change substantially in the legislative process in both chambers, particularly given many of the challenging provisions it contains again this time. .Feel free to call me any time to discuss. .Thanks again for reaching out.

Best regards,

Mike
 

hurricanegirl100

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Sent email to protest this tax - we've got another problem with Sherrod Brown. The guy is one of several Democratic senators who is trying to get MUCH tougher legislation against e-cigarettes at the Federal level.

And John Boehner actually stepped up and sent a letter to the new head of the FDA, asking that the grandfather clause for FDA approval of e-cigarette products be later than 2007. As it stands, a 2007 date would mean just about everything vape related would have to be submitted to the FDA for approval. From what I'm reading that's a really long, expensive process.

If the date is made at the same time the FDA regs are announced (what Boehner suggested), then only products released after 2015 would fall under the provision.

Long story short, it would help.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but all the politicians actively seeking to shoot vaping down are Democrats. All the politicians defending our right to vape are Republicans - and I'm a registered Democrat! I think it's time for a change...maybe those conservatives that have annoyed me ....less all these years have a point.

Getting tired of these so-called "liberals" that insist on telling me how to live my life.I apologize for the political rant, but I'm starting to get really worried. Not only for Ohioans, but for everybody in the U.S. who threw out their cigarettes and went with a healthier alternative. I'll shut up now. ;)
 
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