Advertisement Businesses fight back against E-cigarette tax Vermont Vapors says tax would put them out of business Share Shares Copy Link Copy

After decades of smoking cigarettes, Linda Sienkiewicz switched to e-cigarettes about seven years ago.“I don't cough. I don't get sick. It's tastes better than a cigarette,” Sienkiewicz said.Watch story hereShe and her husband used to spend about $600 a month on lighting up. Switching to electronic version knocked that cost down to $20 or $30 dollars. But that could soon change with a 92 percent tax being proposed on the products.“It would decimate the business. Any of the e-cigarette customers would go online or out of state,” said Linda Barker of Vermont Vapors.Barker said if the bill goes through, they'll be forced to close their doors.“We were the second business in the country to make the liquid, it's a serious business to us,” Barker said.The company creates its own liquids. They say they use fewer chemicals and sell the product throughout the country. Barker said a liquid costing $20 now would go up $38 if the tax is passed.“A lot of smokers are low-income. We have customers who have to wait for their paychecks to buy a $20 bottle of liquid. Why do you want to penalize that income bracket? It doesn't make sense,” Barker said.Representative Bob Helm said the tax is unnecessary.“Sometimes you can tax people to the point where it's not only abusive, it just hurts you. It hurts the state. It doesn't help them financially at all,” Helm said.Still, supporters of the tax said it could keep the products out of kids’ hands.“We’re very concerned with the kids, with the high youth uptick that they're just going to go to the traditional cigarettes,” said Jill Sudhoff-Guerin with the American Cancer Society.