Ramblings.....

[angelique510]

A federal judge rules that e-cigs do not fall under the jurisdiction of the FDA. It is not a drug or a food and therefore the food and drug administration can't regulate them. (I'm still wondering how they can regulate cosmetics)

E-cigs do not contain tobacco, so they would not fall under the jurisdiction of the ATF - alcohol, tobacco, and firearms - which sounds to me more like the name of a convenience store or a damned fun party.

So now what ABC-XYZ government organization is going to atttempt to milk some money out of us, or protect us from ourselves? A six percent sales tax? Yeah, sure, fine.I'm OK with that, as long as it is the same for milk, toilet paper, and anything else I buy.

I, sadly, have the suspicion that someone is going to try to get their share of the e-cig pie. I just don't know who it will be at this point.

~A

 

[Cali]

I guarantee the government will eventually get involved in this and make sure to get their share of the profits. As long as it isn't outrageous it will be ok though. Just get involved early on with the legislation process and you cna help

 

[yvilla]

A federal judge rules that e-cigs do not fall under the jurisdiction of the FDA. It is not a drug or a food and therefore the food and drug administration can't regulate them. (I'm still wondering how they can regulate cosmetics)

E-cigs do not contain tobacco, so they would not fall under the jurisdiction of the ATF - alcohol, tobacco, and firearms - which sounds to me more like the name of a convenience store or a damned fun party.

Angelique, that is not actually the situation. The judge granted the preliminary injunction on the grounds that ecigs are not "drug" or "drug-device" combination products, so the FDA cannot regulate them under the drug provisions of Chapter V of the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act. Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act)

However, he also stated that they may be considered "tobacco products", which means that the FDA will ultimately be able to regulate them under the newly written Chapter IV of that same act, created this past summer by the federal tobacco legislation we've all been talking about. (As a result of this new law, all tobacco products are now regulated entirely by the FDA, just as are foods, drugs, and cosmetics, and the old ATF is no longer in existence).

For a pretty on target explanation of the implications of Judge Leon's ruling for the future of ecigs see Dr. Siegel's article here:

The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary: IN MY VIEW: The Court Ruling on Electronic Cigarettes: What Does It Mean?

 

[martha1014]

The major implication of the court's ruling is that electronic cigarettes will be defined as tobacco products, meaning that they will not be regulated as drugs/devices under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Instead, they will be regulated as tobacco products as stated in the final ruling.

If they are defined as a tobacco product then they will be subject to taxes. I think only the eliquid or cartridges containing eliquid should be taxed because that is the only tobacco in the ecig.

Cigarette Taxes:

State Tax 1.34
Fed Tax 1.01
State Sales Tax 6%
City Sales Tax .06

A pack of cigarettes without taxes would cost around 2.57 a pack
That is 85.1% sales tax.

These are averges of different states.

They would have to come up with a way to tax eliquid since it is not classfied as a pack.

 

[Janetda]

Bill Godshall answered this on Siegel's blog:

"1. Would the regulation of these devices as Tobacco products mean they will be taxed in a way similar to regular cigarettes?"

No. Tobacco products are taxed under a different statute (that was recently amended via the SCHIP legislaiton). Since e-cigarettes are not referenced (or otherwise included) in the federal tobacco tax law (as are cigarettes, little cigars, large cigars, chewing tobacco, snuff, smoking tobacco, and pipe tobacco), e-cigarettes would not be subject to any federal tax (unless/until Congress enacts legislation to do so).

Similarly, I'm not aware of any state tobacco tax law that applies to e-cigarettes (or that would apply if FDA chooses to regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco). But state legislatures can change their tax laws (and other laws, including restricting the use of e-cigarettes, as recently occurred in NJ)."

 

[thefisherman]

The hulking government blob will engage in years of internecine warfare before it reaches an internal compromise about how to strangulate e-cig usage. No amount of tea-leaf reading, legal analysis or pyschoanalysis can accurately predict or, afterward, adequately explain the statutory, regulatory and tax scheme that will emerge. We all might as well try to read the entrails of a goat.