WASHINGTON (Aug. 25, 2016) – California’s ballot initiative Proposition 56, which would increase the state’s cigarette tax by $2 a pack and apply comparable levels of taxation to e-cigarettes and most other vaping-related products, is a misguided effort that will harm both public health and consumer choice, according to a new policy short by R Street Western Region Director Steven Greenhut and State Programs Director Cameron Smith.

Though the proposition treats e-cigarettes largely the same as traditional cigarettes, the assumption that the two products represent similar degrees of risk is a broad categorical error.

“Evidence surveyed by Public Health England suggests e-cigarettes are 95 percent safer than traditional combustible cigarettes, which is why the U.K. government now recommends promoting their use to improve public health,” the authors write. “With many cigarette smokers having switched to vaping to cut down or quit smoking, the expansion of tobacco restrictions and tax rates to vaping raises many eyebrows, even from some physicians and health advocates.”

Though some proponents of the proposition suggest that e-cigarettes will serve as a tempting gateway to traditional smoking for kids, the authors point to studies suggesting the opposite.

“Data from both the United States and the United Kingdom show the vast majority of both adult and teen vapers are smokers or former smokers.,” they write. “Nonetheless, the rise of vaping has correlated with an accelerated reduction in adult and teen smoking rates in both countries.”

Ultimately, Proposition 56 has little to do with protecting public health and more to do with the ulterior motives of the initiative’s most vocal advocates, leading to the kinds of strange political bedfellows that economists dub “Baptists and bootleggers.”

“This much is sure – we know two groups will continue to oppose a more reasonable approach toward e-cigarettes, irrespective of evidence about their usefulness in helping people quit a deadly habit,” the authors write. “The anti-tobacco warriors (‘Baptists’) oppose smoking and anything that offers smoking-like pleasures to consumers, while the government profiteers (‘bootleggers’) depend on tax revenues to fund their programs.”

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