Senate budget proposal includes 17% tax on vaping products

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A proposal in the Senate version of Ohio’s two-year budget would place a 17% tax on the invoice price of vaping products.

Senate Finance Chairman Matt Dolan, a Republican from Chagrin Falls, says he’s concerned that vaping has filled a niche in Ohio that is attracting teens.

Gongwer News Service reports that industry groups oppose the tax proposal. The news service reports those groups say lawmakers are treating their products too similarly to cigarettes and other tobacco products.

James Jarvis is president of the Ohio Vapor Trade Association. He says the product isn’t tobacco and it doesn’t make sense to fit vaping into the same tax framework as the tobacco industry.

Dolan disagrees. He notes that nicotine comes from tobacco.