The political chant is “tax the rich,” but in at least 15 states, lawmakers looking for revenue are reaching instead into the pockets of smokers, vapers and nicotine-pouch users — disproportionately working-class consumers.

Take Delaware. After Democrat Gov. Matt Meyers’s 2025 effort to raise income taxes on top earners failed to get through the legislature, lawmakers turned their revenue targeting toward nicotine users. They moved to raise the cigarette tax by more than 70%, double the tax on vaping liquid and impose a new 40% wholesale levy on nicotine pouches.

Supporters of nicotine product tax hikes, such as Delaware’s, position them as a public health measure aimed at discouraging nicotine use and offsetting smoking-related health costs.

But critics argue that not only do these taxes largely fall on working-class consumers, they also undermine efforts to get smokers to switch from cigarettes to other lower-risk nicotine products.

Smoking rates in the United States are disproportionately higher among lower-income Americans and people without college degrees, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2024, 9.9% of U.S. adults smoked cigarettes. Non-college graduates made up 84% of those smokers. Tobacco excise taxes are generally considered regressive because lower-income consumers spend a larger share of their income on the taxed products.

The sweet spot, say advocates for harm reduction, is to have a tax policy that gives smokers the incentive to put down combustible cigarettes and switch to lower-risk products.

At a Washington, D.C. roundtable on harm reduction in April, Ethan Nadelmann, founder of the Drug Policy Alliance, laid out the benefits of this approach.

“We know that the overall harms (from alternative products) are 80 to 90% less,” Nadelmann said. “We also know that when you get a smoker who’s over the age of 35 or 40 to either quit or to phase out with (alternatives), you may be saving 3, 5, 7 years of their life.”

The Biden administration’s FDA acknowledged that nicotine pouches pose a lower health risk than cigarettes. And two recent studies of nicotine pouch use have provided evidence to support that conclusion.

Instead, the new tax policies treat all nicotine products the same. Delaware’s proposed tax package alone is projected to raise roughly $18.9 million from nicotine-related products.

The Delaware proposal would boost the cigarette tax from $2.10 to $3.60 per pack, double the vaping liquid tax from 5 cents to 10 cents per milliliter and impose a new 40% wholesale tax on nicotine pouches. It would also raise the licensing fee for retailers that sell nicotine products.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least five states updated their tax codes in 2025 to specifically include oral nicotine pouches such as ZYN-style products. Industry trackers and tax analysts say some 15 states are now considering new or higher taxes on nicotine pouches, vaping products and other alternative nicotine systems in 2026.

New York lawmakers, for example, are considering a proposed 75% wholesale tax on nicotine pouches. Washington legislators have discussed broader increases on cigarettes and alternative nicotine products. Maine and Nebraska recently enacted new taxes on vaping and alternative nicotine products.

The American Lung Association and other anti-smoking groups routinely push for higher cigarette taxes, citing research linking tax hikes to lower smoking rates, particularly among teenagers. But the rapid expansion of taxes beyond traditional cigarettes has opened a new debate about fairness and harm reduction.

Raymond Niaura, who studies tobacco dependence at New York University School of Global Public Health, said it is always difficult to predict human reaction to new factors, such as tax hikes or local bans.

“If you want to raise taxes to increase revenue, fine,” Niaura said. “But in terms of changing behavior, things are trickier now [with nicotine options beyond cigarettes]. There is some evidence that increased cost might send people back to cigarettes. Or, in a small state like Delaware, they might just [cross state lines] to get what they want.

Such cross-border purchasing is already happening in New England, according to Peter Brennan, executive director of the New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association. He said that when Massachusetts banned flavored vapes, convenience stores in nearby parts of New Hampshire saw an upsurge in business. Similarly, Rhode Island’s recent 80% tax on the wholesale price of nicotine pouches drove buyers across state lines to Massachusetts.

Brennan said his members believe nicotine products should be taxed at common-sense rates.

“A lower tax means more sales, which means, ultimately, more revenue for the state,” he said. “And if you want people to use these products to stop smoking, quit taxing them so much.”

Randall Bloomquist, the head of Bloomquist Media, has been a journalist, PR guy, business owner and parent. He wrote this for Insidesources.com