Indiana Lawmakers Consider Tax Break for HTP

Source: PHOTO: Raymond Boyd/Getty Images

STATEHOUSE — If you use heated tobacco products, or HTPs as they are known in the industry, you should be aware that the companies who make those are asking Indiana for a break.  

That’s been written into a bill that addresses several tax concerns (SB 453).  

Part of that bill “Provides that heated tobacco products (HTPs) are subject to the cigarette tax and are not taxed as a vapor product under the electronic cigarette tax. Specifies the rate of taxation for HTPs under the cigarette tax.”  

A representative of Phillip Morris Co. International gave testimony to the

Wednesday, arguing in favor of what would essentially be a tax break for manufacturers of HTPs.  

“The only reason we can sell tobacco flavor, if you call it a flavor, is because of an FDA pre-clearance process,” he said.  

He had been asked if they would begin offering flavors other than “tobacco” and menthol.  

“We had to demonstrate that the products were not appealing to youth, that they were not appealing to adults who didn’t smoke, that they were effective at converting smokers away from cigarettes and that they were much less harmful than cigarettes,” he said.  

The products heat tobacco rather than burn it.