A new law passed and will go into effect on October first in Washington DC. The law mandates that ALL electronic cigarettes and ALL items associated with will be subject to a 67% tax. In turn this new law and the associated tax will likely drive the brick and mortar vape shops out of the city of Washington DC as it is not financially viable to sell electronic cigarettes under such a heavy tax. Without profits mom and pop shops, or any outlet for that matter, will be unable to keep their doors open. This 67% tax was stated as taking 66% of the profits from one brick and mortar owner.
Touted as a means to create revenue to for the homeless initiative it is thought that this tax would generate 400,000$ in 2016’s fiscal year and 500,000$ in 2017’s fiscal year. Khalaf, owner of M Street Vape, said “That will probably drop to 0$ since vape shops will not be able to stay open. The new law only effects vape shops, it doesn’t target c-stores like 7-11.” This has lead to many vape shop proprietors to seek an exit strategy, out of more than just their lease. Moreover this new law does not target any of the distributors. The way the law is worded it only effects shops that specifically sell electronic cigarettes or those distributors that are located within the district of Columbia.
So come October many vapers in DC will likely have to return to ordering their electronic cigarettes and accessories online. Most unfortunate because they will no longer be able to “try before they buy” and will have to deal with all of the issues that come with ordering a product online.
It seems this law was drawn up hurriedly and with little forethought applied. I wonder if our esteemed politicians ever bothered to consider who might suffer because of this poorly worded and implemented law? It seems doubtful.
