Tis the season to be merry and for some politicians that joy is achieved by coming up withideas to tax e-cigarettes . Utah Governor Gary Herbert is one such politician intent on doingjust that but isn’t too keen on his plans being shown prominently.Hidden away in a footnote on page 22 of his budget blueprint is the proposal for a new taxon e-cigarettes. He’s rubbing his hands with glee at the thought of it raising $10m next year.You can tell Herbert is a politician because he’s also a hypocrite and a bit dodgy when itcomes to telling the truth. He’s boasted that his budget is free of tax increases so whatexactly is this proposed tax on e-cigarettes? Herbert claims that he doesn’t consider theproposal to be a tax hike, it is in his eyes a change in the way the state treats e-cigarettes.“It's just saying, 'Here's a product that should fit under the umbrella of tobacco.’” says theGovernor. But doesn’t he realize that e-cigarettes don’t contain tobacco? Is he unaware ofthe fact this product can stop people smoking tobacco? Actually it’s probably better hedoesn’t know that because he’ll work out that means less tobacco tax revenue and moreneed to tax their replacement.According to the Governor, this is a “health issue” and then goes down the youth avenuebelieving that “young people are getting hooked on” e-cigarettes, “that’s straight nicotine withgood flavors and all that stuff that makes it attractive.” That’s why e-cigarettes “should betaxed just like we tax tobacco.”Didn’t he read the survey that said e-cigarettes are not as addictive as tobacco cigarettes?Perhaps he doesn’t know that flavors help ex-smokers give up their deadly habit. Heprobably just read a few negative articles and then saw the dollar signs appear in front of hiseyes. Herbert’s spokesman Marty Carpenter said the governor is willing to work withlegislators to find the best option, i.e. the one that makes most money.Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, an anti-tobacco crusader in the Legislature but who stilldescribes e-cigarettes as a “tobacco derivative” believes the best option is to tax the e-cigarette liquid or e-juice at a lower rate than the tax on regular tobacco products. At presentthey are taxed at 87.5% of the wholesale price in Utah. Ray is suggesting a rate of about halfthat figure, still a whopping 43.75% thus adding several dollars to the price of the averagebottle of e-juice.Ray also claims that within a few years, science will disprove the health benefits of e-cigarettes. “I think it's going to be as bad as tobacco down the road. People will realize thisstuff is not as good as we were told and we're going to have health problems down theroad." Ray doesn’t produce any evidence to back up these claims probably because hecan’t.Aaron Frazier, executive director of the Utah Smoke-free Association, says increasing theprice of e-cigarette liquid will mean people just keep on smoking. His view is the tax wouldbe “removing any benefit for a smoker to move over to a scientifically documented lessharmful product and drive them back to smoking tobacco cigarettes.”