E-cigarette sellers urged lawmakers Tuesday afternoon to reconsider legislation to tax vaping products, arguing it would harm retailers in the state and adult smokers who are trying to ween off traditional cigarettes.

“The products are all very different. The products are consumed differently and the potential impact for consumers varies dramatically from product to product," said Brian Fojtik of the National Association of Tobacco Outlets, testifying before the Revenue Committee.

The committee heard other testimony on the 75 percent excise tax on the wholesale price of e-cigarettes, filed by Sen. Harriette Chandler and Rep. Marjorie Decker.

Massachusetts lawmakers have raised the alarm about e-cigarettes fueling nicotine addiction among youth. The Legislature passed a law that raised the minimum smoking age from 18 to 21 in 2018. The excise tax was included in fiscal 2020 budget plans presented by Gov. Charlie Baker, the House and the Senate.

“I don’t think I have to tell you that e-cigarettes have created a public health crisis,” said Chandler, a Worcester Democrat.

E-cigarette use has surged over the past few years among underage users. A 2018 surgeon general advisory reported that one in five high school students and one in 20 middle school students vape. Teachers and coaches in Massachusetts high schools say children smoke vape pends that look like USB drives in bathrooms and in the halls.

Decker, a Cambridge Democrat, said e-cigarette companies have taken a page out of Big Tobacco and recalls her parents’ lifelong struggle with nicotine addiction.

“We know that taxing has been proven to reduce consumption of tobacco products, and we know it will also reduce consumption of cigarettes,” she said. “We reduce consumption. We reduce addiction. We reduce health care costs.”

Leo Vercollone, who runs dozens of convenience store/gas stations and car wash sites in Massachusetts, said he’s not against a vaping tax as a way to curb underage nicotine addiction but thinks 75 percent is excessive. He also said it wouldn’t stop people from getting e-cigarette products.

When he talks to employees, “I say, ‘where are these kids getting JUUL?’ and they tell me the internet. They tell me the internet,” said Vercollone, CEO of Verc Enterprises. “I don’t know how we fight that or how we solve that, but that’s what they tell me.”

Fojtik asked lawmakers to set aside the tax bill altogether. He claimed such a tax would not only harm retailers, but encourage illicit trade and illegal activity and disproportionately affect low-income residents. He also made a public health argument before lawmakers, arguing it would hurt consumers who want to avoid the tar and various chemicals in cigarettes and switched to vaping.

Instead, Fojtik suggested analyzing the effects of raising the minimum smoking age before enacting a tax that could harm retailers.

“I respectfully suggest that you consider setting aside each of these bills or wait and see whether the increased age of purchase, which hasn’t even been in effect for 6 months, is having a desired impact,” he said.

Decker pushed back against the arguments about nicotine versus tobacco products during her testimony, arguing the same marketing strategy is being used to entice young children.

“We know at the end of the day, the same playbook is being used, right? Target young people, get them consuming. They become addicted” Decker said during her testimony, noting that her elementary school children are talking about vaping.

She added: “I will not serve as a representative and stand by idly as they steal our children.”