NY Times: Vaping Tax Encouraged Cigarette Smoking

[LoveVanilla]

What if a Vaping Tax Encouraged Cigarette Smoking

The study, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, examined what happened in Minnesota, one of the first states to impose a steep vaping tax (95 percent). The effect was that declines in smoking there leveled off, while they continued to fall in similar states that hadn’t imposed such taxes.

“By decreasing the extent to which people use e-cigarettes, you decrease quitting of conventional cigarettes”

When Minnesota made vaping more expensive, they found, smokers kept smoking instead of switching to e-cigarettes. A longstanding decline in adult smoking in the state slowed way down, while smoking in states that hadn’t imposed big vaping taxes continued to fall. The researchers concluded that making e-cigarettes more expensive discouraged Minnesota smokers from trying them and caused fewer of them to switch away from smoking. By measuring the difference in the trends, the researchers estimated that Minnesota caused around 32,000 more adults to keep smoking cigarettes.

...one of the Minnesota paper’s authors, says his results suggest that a tax may be a blunt tool that reduces youth vaping at the expense of decreasing the number of adults who quit smoking.

“The research shows that e-cigarette taxes would be bad for adult smokers,” he said. “To stop youth use, we know there are other alternatives.”

Teen vaping rates have risen sharply in Minnesota, too, despite the large tax on the products.

 

[Brewdawg1181]

Nice - Need more articles like this.

 

[zoiDman]

You would think that someone Based in NYC area who writes about Use/Taxation Ramifications would understand that when Taxes are raised Too High, that Grey and Black Markets flourish.

High taxes and limited enforcement have New York City awash in illegal booze and cigarettes