Van Hollen, Shaheen, Blumenthal, Colleagues Spearhead Bill to Crack Down on E-Cigarette Companies & Close Tax Loophole on Advertising

Today, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) joined Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) in reintroducing the No Tax Subsidies for E-Cigarette and Tobacco Ads Act which would crack down on e-cigarette companies and close a tax loophole that allows manufacturers to claim federal tax deductions for the cost of advertising for e-cigarettes and tobacco products. Senators Brown (D-Ohio), Reed (D-R.I.), Durbin (D-Ill.), and Merkley (D-Ore.) also joined in reintroducing this bill.

In November 2022, the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released federal data showing that over 3 million middle and high school students had used a tobacco product during the past 30 days. Over 2.5 million middle and high school students, more than one in four, use e-cigarettes daily. This comes as youth e-cigarette use rose 1,800% from 2011 to 2019. More than 30% of teens who start using e-cigarettes begin smoking traditional tobacco products within six months. More than a quarter of current youth e-cigarette users use and e-cigarette product every day. Over 85 percent of user use fruit flavors. Amongst students surveyed, those who use social media found that 73.5% of students have seen e-cigarette related content.

Television and radio advertising for traditional tobacco products have been banned under federal law, and certain other forms of Big Tobacco advertising are restricted under the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. However, none of these restrictions apply to e-cigarettes. While some television outlets have started pulling e-cigarette ads from the air in response to the ongoing youth vaping crisis, the ads are still being run by other outlets. To ensure parity between e-cigarettes and traditional tobacco, the Shaheen and Blumenthal bill also bars tax deductions for advertising expenses related to tobacco cigarettes, cigars, snuff, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco, and roll-your-own tobacco.


Text of the legislation can be found here.