Hamilton exploring municipal vaping tax

Measure would be “one tool in the tool box” to keep teens away from habit.

Coun. Brad Clark said he was “quite impressed” the youth council has pushed the city to take action on vaping.

Steven Senne/Associated Press file photo

Teviah Moro /The Hamilton Spectator

Hamilton is exploring a potential municipal tax on vaping products to help steer young people away from the habit.

Councillors have asked finance and legal staff to examine how the city could impose such a tax on e-cigarettes.

That measure would need provincial approval, Coun. Jeff Beattie noted while introducing his call for the staff report Wednesday.

But the city tax would be “one tool in the tool box” to help keep teens away from vaping, Beattie said.

The Stoney Creek Youth Council has flagged vaping as a “primary area of concern among young people,” his motion noted.

Vaping products are made to “smell like cotton candy and that’s part of the problem,” Beattie said.

In Ontario, it’s illegal to sell tobacco or vaping products to people under the age of 19.

Nonetheless, a local public health report in November noted nearly one in three Hamilton secondary students in 2019 reported vaping in the previous year.

Meanwhile, a tobacco tax is among a variety of potential levies city staff have presented as revenue-generating tools for council’s consideration.

“We can use taxation as a method of control,” said Beattie, who acknowledged vaping products are available via the internet.

Coun. Brad Clark said he was “quite impressed” the youth council has pushed the city to take action on vaping.

Clark suggested looking at setting a minimum distance that any stores selling vaping products must be separated from schools.

Such radial separation and licensing are among the avenues he’s studying, said Beattie, pointing to a “multipronged approach.”