For anyone who doesn’t know what’s happening in Pennsylvania, the state passed a vape tax that was due to go into effect on October 1st. This is a 40% tax on all vape products, which is not all affordable for any shop in the state.
But what makes it worse is that legislators somehow made it so that the tax is retroactive, meaning vape shops have to pay a 40% tax on products they already have in stock.
These are products they have already paid for and paid taxes on, but now the state wants them to pay an additional 40% tax!
Lawmakers have given vape shops 90 days after Oct. 1st to come up with the money.
There is a bill, HB2342, which vapers in Pennsylvania are trying to get passed to replace the 40% tax bill. This bill would create a 5c/ml tax on e-liquid, which still sucks, but is much more reasonable and would allow most shops to stay in business.
The state’s House Finance Committee voted 19-4 to replace the 40% tax bill, but it still needs to reach the House floor to be passed and finalized.
There have been rallies at the state capital over the last week in hopes that HB2342 can be passed. If you live in Pennsylvania, CASSA.org has a petition up that you can still sign in support of HB2342.
More than 60 vape shops out of 400 have already shut down in Pennsylvania due to this tax. Getting HB2342 passed won’t help those businesses or the employees who have lost their jobs, but hopefully, this bill will prevent more jobs from being lost.