Heated tobacco tax change snubbed again

A measure that would differentiate heated tobacco products (HTPs) from traditional cigarettes and instead classify them as tobacco products, setting up a different taxing structure, has been snubbed again.

That’s despite efforts by Sen. Nick DiCeglie and Rep. Chase Tramont to revive it this year. Twin bills in the House and Senate (HB 377, SB 754) sponsored by Tramont and DiCeglie, respectively, lingered in Committee and never saw either chamber’s floor.

Tramont’s version fared better, clearing two of three referred Committees, Ways and Means and Industries and Professional Activities, but stalling in Commerce.

DiCeglie’s bill unanimously cleared its first Committee stop, Regulated Industries, but never made it to its next Committee, Finance and Tax, or its final stop, Appropriations.

With Sine Die just hours away, there’s no chance either bill gets taken up as members scramble to clear bills that found at least some consensus in each chamber.

The measures would have clarified existing state law, reinforcing an existing Department of Business and Professional Regulation declaratory statement that affirms, under current law, that HTPs are not included in the definition of “cigarette,” but rather defined as “other tobacco products.”

The change would allow heated tobacco products to be taxed differently — at a lower rate — than traditional cigarettes, which are taxed at about $1.34 per pack of common sized cigarettes.

The bill was largely the same as what Tramont filed in the 2025 Legislative Session (HB 785), which also died in Committee.

The current measure would have added HTPs to the title of section of Florida Statutes Chapter 210, Part II to read: “Tax on Tobacco Products other than Cigarettes, Heated Tobacco Products, or Cigars.” That would exempt HTPs from taxes levied on tobacco products.

The legislation also sought to define heated tobacco products as “a product containing tobacco designed for use in an electronic device with a heat source that does not involve any form of burning or combustion during ordinary conditions of use and which produces an inhalable aerosol by heating the tobacco but does not produce any smoke.”

While HTPs still contain nicotine and still present possible risks, they are a less harmful alternative to traditional tobacco products, according to various reports on the issue. Dominic Calabro, President and CEO of Florida TaxWatch, previously penned an op-ed in this publication noting the harms of cigarettes — more than 32,000 Floridians die from smoking each year — and pointing to HTPs as a less harmful and less expensive option.

With the cost of health care from smoking-related illness estimated at more than $10 billion annually in Florida alone, Florida TaxWatch is advocating for incentives to move smokers away from cigarettes and, if they can’t or won’t quit, toward less harmful products. The group is supporting a “different tax treatment” for HTPs that would make them more affordable than cigarettes.

DiCeglie’s identical version of the bill cleared its first Committee before the Legislative Session started, but wasn’t heard again throughout the 60-day lawmaking term.

Given that this was a repeat bill, it’s possible, if not likely, the measure will resurface again in the 2027 Legislative Session, when a new slate of leadership will be heading the legislative process.