OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - The Omaha City Council has decided to subject vaping products to the city’s tobacco tax.
The council voted for the measure Tuesday and decided to make permanent the city’s 3% tax on tobacco products. It was approved in 2012 to support construction of a cancer center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
The vaping product addition could spur an estimated $1 million increase in the tobacco tax, which now raises about $3.5 million annually.
Public health advocates and others have said a vaping tax could help some young people choose not to start. Local vaping retailers warned that the tax would drive more vaping purchases online and beyond the city limits.
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