IOWA
Analysis, Commentary, Musings
IOWA
Analysis, Commentary, Musings
NEVADA
TOBACCO HARM REDUCTION 101: NEVADA
January 23, 2020
Key Points:
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Nevada’s vaping industry provided more than $204 million in economic activity in 2018 while generating 973 direct vaping-related jobs. Sales of disposables and prefilled cartridges in Nevada exceeded $7.3 million in 2016.
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As of December 18, 2019, SNHD has reported six cases of vaping related lung injury, noting that 83 percent of patients report vaping THC. NDHHS does not provide state reports. SNHD deserves an A for its transparency on vaping-related lung illnesses.
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In 2017, only 15 percent of Nevada high school students reported using an e-cigarette on at least one day, in the 30 days prior. There is no information on frequent and/or daily use. More data is needed.
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Only 3 percent of FDA retail compliance checks in Nevada resulted in sales of e-cigarettes to minors from January 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019.
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Nevada spends very little on tobacco prevention. In 2019, Nevada dedicated only $1 million to tobacco control programs including education and prevention, or less than 1 percent of what the state received in tobacco settlement payments and taxes.
FLOOR TAX WOULD VAPORIZE TOBACCO HARM REDUCTION OPTIONS IN NEVADA
March 26, 2019
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Senate Bill 263 would apply Nevada’s other tobacco product tax, currently applied to tobacco products other than cigarettes, on e-cigarettes at “30 percent of the wholesale price.” The legislation would also charge retailers and wholesalers an annual license fee of $50 and $650, respectively.
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The tax would apply to all e-cigarette products, including e-liquids, regardless of whether they contain nicotine.
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The tax would also apply to other components, including “containers, atomizers, [and] batteries.”
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The proposed levy would be a floor tax, meaning it would apply to all existing inventory in retail locations. Retailers would be required to pay the tax on “vapor products dealers have in their inventory as of” July 1, 2019.
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E-cigarettes are significantly less harmful than combustible tobacco cigarettes and have helped millions of smokers quit.
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Electronic cigarettes and vaping devices are “95 % safer” than combustible cigarettes, according to Public Health England.
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In 2016, the Royal College of Physicians found e-cigarettes “unlikely to exceed 5% of the harm from smoking tobacco.”
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In 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the American Cancer Society noted the reduced harm of e-cigarettes and vaping devices.
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Lawmakers should recognize the many economic benefits vape shops provide. A typical vape shop “[generates] annual non-online sales of more than $300,000 per store.” An analysis of vape shops in the San Francisco Bay area found stores employee, on average, three workers. The industry is also expected to continue to grow, with the global market “estimated to reach $44,610.6 million by 2023.”
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A 30 percent wholesale floor tax would decimate Nevada’s e-cigarette industry. In 2016, Pennsylvania applied a 40 percent wholesale tax to vaping devices. Within a year, about 120 vape shops, a third of all shops, closed in the Keystone State.