Ontario will associate with Canada’s nationwide authorities to double the tax added to the value of all vaping merchandise offered within the province. Ontario is the most-populous Canadian province, with about 15.6 million residents.

The tax was announced final week in Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy’s fall financial assertion. No particulars on a timeline had been provided. Ontario Premier Doug Ford—who would have signed off on any new tax plan—had beforehand earned plaudits from the vaping business for his “balanced” strategy to vaping regulation.

The federal/provincial tax “partnership” scheme, announced in 2022 by the federal government, permits provinces to easily double the present federal vape tax and preserve half of the proceeds. The federal authorities does all of the work—which is able to make the chance practically irresistible to cash-strapped provincial governments.

The present Canadian federal tax has been charged since October 2022 on all bottled e-liquid and prefilled vaping merchandise offered within the nation. The tax applies to merchandise whether or not they comprise nicotine or not.

The federal tax is $1 per two milliliters (or portion thereof) for the primary 10 mL of e-liquid in a sealed container (bottle, pod, cartridge, and so forth.), and $1 per 10 mL for added liquid (after the primary 10 mL) within the container. The costs in Ontario, when the federal/provincial tax “partnership” takes impact, might be doubled.

So, as an alternative of vapers paying an additional $7 in taxes on a 30 mL bottle of vape juice—as all Canadian vapers do now—the tax for Ontario customers will double to $14. As a substitute of paying an additional $1 per prefilled pod, Ontario vapers pays $2 per pod.

The provincial money seize is being justified by the Ford authorities as a well being measure, meant to cut back youth vaping and stop vapers from following a “gateway” to smoking. “Analysis suggests youth vaping can result in smoking,” says the finance report.

However intensive analysis reveals that any sort of vaping product restriction—including taxes—will increase cigarette gross sales and smoking. Vapes and cigarettes are financial substitutes, which suggests legal guidelines or rules that make yet one more costly or tougher to acquire will enhance gross sales of the opposite.

“Ontarians who vape deserve so a lot better than to be handled as a piggy financial institution to fill authorities coffers,” said Maria Papaioannoy, a spokesperson for Canadian vaping advocacy group Rights4Vapers. “All we wish is an reasonably priced various to smoking.”

Alberta and Prince Edward Island are additionally contemplating signing on to the federal/provincial tax scheme, in response to Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada. British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan have already got provincial taxes on vaping merchandise that predate the federal tax.

Quebec, which additionally recently banned flavored vaping products, has introduced it is going to implement a brand new provincial vape tax someday in 2024. Quebec is Canada’s second most-populous province.