Confusion has become the norm when it comes to U.S. healthcare. Almost two years into our battle against COVID-19, we are still being inundated with mixed messages. From masks to booster shots, the rules and safety concerns seem to change daily. Unfortunately, fighting a global pandemic is not the only place where health and safety guidelines are being muddled.
The fight for and against vaping products and e-cigarettes has been a long, winding road, and it just got more jumbled. In September 2021, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a proposed tax plan that would impose new or dramatically increased taxes on tobacco, nicotine, and vapor products. The goal, they claim, is tax equity.
The problem is that out-of-touch politicians are treating all these products as if they pose the same health risks to consumers. Vaping products are frequently used as an off-ramp for adults to get off of combustible tobacco and are much safer. This argument was validated just recently on October 12, 2021, when the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) issued the first-ever marketing authorization to a vaping product.
Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, was tasked with making this decision. In a statement, he explained the authorized products could “benefit addicted adult smokers who switch to these products – either completely or with a significant reduction in cigarette consumption – by reducing their exposure to harmful chemicals.”
If the Democrats’ proposed tax’s true intention is to help Americans stop smoking, then Congress should listen to the science and leave smoke-free products alone.
With approximately 4,300 West Virginians dying due to smoking each year, it defies logic why Congress would want to put huge taxes on one of the most successful tools for quitting combustible tobacco. Making vaping products more expensive than cigarettes seems to be in direct contradiction to the FDA’s authorization.
This tax will also be in direct contradiction to President Biden’s campaign promise of never raising taxes on Americans who make less than $400,000 a year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the smoking rate is higher among people with a low annual household income compared to those with higher annual household incomes. In fact, 72 percent of smokers are from lower-income communities. Americans making less than $25,000 annually smoke at a rate of 24.7 percent.
President Biden will be breaking a promise he made to the American people if he allows this tax proposal to be implemented.
We are living in a time where Americans do not know who to trust when it comes to their healthcare; if this proposal goes through it will only make things worse. Simply put, this is a reckless tax policy and even worse health policy. With more adults and the FDA realizing that equating vaping products to combustible cigarettes is false and absurd, now is the time to cut bait on this ruthless tax hike on America’s least advantaged.