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| Candles, soap and nicotine "Death Stars" from Enchanted Thing |
Article VIII
TAXATION AND FINANCE
Uniformity of Taxation
"All taxes shall be uniform, upon the same class of subjects, within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, and shall be levied and collected under general laws."
I am not a lawyer but from what I am able to read about this it requires that, within the flexible bounds of what the state legislature might do all taxes should be applied the same. Now there is a lot to consider but in general it would appear to mean if I have a tax one wholesale gasoline, for example, or I have a tax on beverage components such as sugar, I must uniformly apply that tax.
So I believe, for example, this means that everyone that buys gas from a wholesale distributor pays the the same PA tax regardless of their intended use. You can't for example, have some stores selling gas that is not taxed and some that are. If you did, the tax would not be "uniform."
So, for example, this appears often in the context of property taxes (see this, page #3 right, underline mine):
371 Taxation
371 III Property Taxes
371 III(B) Laws and Regulation
371 III(B)4 Constitutional Regulation and Restrictions
Concerning Equality and Uniformity
371k2134 Classification of Subjects, and Uniformity as to Subjects of Same Class
371k2135 k. In General. Most Cited Cases
While reasonable and practical classifications in tax legislation are justifiable and often permissible, when a method or formula for computing a tax will, in its operation or effect, produce arbitrary, unjust, or unreasonably discriminatory results, the Uniformity Clause of the State Constitution is violated. Const. Art. 8, § 1.
So let's think about vaping and vape shops. Walmart and amazon sell flashlight battery chargers, e.g., 18650 chargers, and e-liquid and e-cigarettes but as near as we can tell they do not pay a 40% tax on the battery chargers.
Our vape shop sells the same is at least at this point is required to pay taxes on these items.
Now I believe that its likely that things like USB chargers, cables, etc. will become exempt so long as they are not "marked for vaping" according to what we have heard from PA Revenue representatives.
This is part of the lawsuit brought by Kingdom Vapor (see this).
But what about e-liquid and nicotine?
Well, if USB cables are exempt the why isn't every USB cable exempt? After all they are used for many, many things besides vaping.
To this end I have engaged a group to create soaps and candles that use e-liquids both with nicotine (NGL - see below) and without nicotine as perfuming agents. (I fully expect the wrath of the FDA on this but once these items are sold, and only commercially, not to consumers, the cat is, as they say, out of the revenue bag...)
Specifically we have a line of e-liquid called "Mystic Wolf." Very soon we will be selling soap and candles that make use of these e-liquid flavors for the purpose of fragrance, i.e., to make the soap and candles smell nice.
Similarly we are using some of the Next Generation Labs (NGL) synthetic nicotine in these same products. Next Generation claims their products are not subject to the new FDA vaping "deeming regulations:"
“Not all nicotine-free e-liquids (NFLs) are subject to the deeming rule. Assuming an NFL is not made or derived from tobacco, it is subject to the rule only if it meets the definition of a ‘component or part’ —that is, if it is ‘intended or reasonably expected’ either…(1) To alter or affect [a] tobacco product’s performance, composition, constituents, or characteristics; or (2) To be used with or for the human consumption of a tobacco product; and is not an accessory.”
Which would mean the soap and candles are not tobacco products in any way, shape or form.
(But just for fun we have created some using our nicotine e-liquids as well as NGL nicotine. Clearly these are not tobacco products... so if they are not tobacco products what are they?)
By selling these products we can factually claim that the e-liquids are not used for vaping alone and are in fact general purpose products with multiple uses as soap, candles, and so on.
(Additional uses might include baking products, candy, etc. for example.)
Now no one wants anyone to be harmed by these products so rather than sell them to consumers these products will be sold marked as "Not for Human Consumption" products to, surprise, other vape shops.
This will establish a PA sales tax chain of events clearly making e-liquid equivalent to the VG or PG you might purchase in Walmart for making, you guessed it, candles and soap.
We hope that those reading this blog will create other uses for what are currently "vaping only" products and sell these products to others (of course preventing anyone from harming themselves with whatever they make).
Idea: Sell flashlight adapters for mods.
Of course we have documented all of this in detail (though obviously anyone involved in vaping can do this on their own with little or no effort).
We specified that all of the nicotine products contain about 50ng (nanograms) of nicotine, roughly the amount contained in one, large, ripe tomato.
Candles and soap supplied by
If you'd like your own e-liquids converted to fragrances please contact "Enchanted Thing."
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