September 12, 2019 9:25 a.m. 
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, and 18 colleagues have introduced legislation to tax e-cigarettes the same as other tobacco products.
A release from Wyden said the action was taken to combat what he called “the growing public health threat posed by the use of e-cigarettes by young people”.
While the Food and Drug Administration has officially designated e-cigarettes as regulated tobacco products and at least 15 states have established e-cigarette taxes, the products remain exempt from federal tobacco taxes. The Congressional Budget Office previously estimated that for every 1 percent increase in the price of cigarettes the number of smokers declines by 0.3 percent and found that teenagers respond most strongly to higher cigarette prices, according to the release.
Wyden said as the new school year begins, parents face a new challenge – easily accessible e-cigarettes. Wyden called the products “highly addictive”. He claimed they are subject to minimal safety standards and oversight, “exposing users to dangerous chemicals like formaldehyde”. Wyden said that a new generation of nicotine users has been created virtually overnight and “the companies making billions are downplaying the health risks”.
The release said the E-cigarette Tax Parity Act would expand the definition of taxable tobacco products to include e-cigarettes and other alternative nicotine products. The bill would establish an excise tax on alternative nicotine products at a rate equal to the federal cigarette tax, equivalent to $1.01 per pack of 20 cigarettes. The tax would be calculated on a per-milligram of nicotine basis because the nicotine content and delivery method of alternative nicotine products vary significantly.
A summary of the legislation is linked here: https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/E-Cigarette%20Tax%20Parity%20Act%20of%202019%20One%20Pager%20.pdf