At Mr. Vape & Smoke in Lincoln Park, where a disposable vape device can go for $20, Noe Delgado is used to hearing customers question the cost of feeding their habits.

Those costs could soon go up because of a tax hike passed by Illinois lawmakers this spring that would triple the levy on a number of vaping and tobacco products.

“It’s a bummer,” said Delgado, who has worked at Mr. Vape & Smoke for about five years. “We have what we have. If you don’t want it, I understand. But that’s what we can do.”

Illinois set the tax on vaping products at 15% of the wholesale price about six years ago. The first increase since then kicks in July 1, with the rate going up to 45%. Most tobacco products other than cigarettes, including cigars and chewing tobacco, will also be taxed at 45% of the wholesale price, up from a 36% levy that’s been in place for more than a decade.

Also subject to the tax hike are nontobacco nicotine products, such as the popular Zyn nicotine pouches, and lozenges and gum that contain nicotine.

Exactly how those costs will be passed on to consumers isn’t clear and may vary. A $20 disposable vape might be close to $5 more once the 45% tax goes in effect, and that doesn’t factor in the sales tax at the register.

Taha Saleem, chief information officer for American Distributors, a suburban wholesaler of vapes and other products that will be affected by the tax hikes, said the 45% tax will put a squeeze on retailers.

“It gets really hard for them to make more profits since nowadays, anyways. The economy’s not that great,” he said. “Most probably, they’ll sacrifice on their profit. Then they will be coming at us, barging at us, like, ‘What the heck is going on? You guys didn’t take any steps?’ And, I mean, we take all the necessary steps. We even raised this issue a couple of times. But it is what it is.”

Saleem said a can of Zyn pouches that might cost $4.50 now will likely go up to $6.50.

As another example, he said a pack of 10 disposable e-cigarettes that might now have a $60 value from a distributor would be sold to retailers at $69 under the current 15% rate, he said. As of July 1, that cost to retailers would jump to $87.

“Fifteen percent was still manageable. Everything was fine. People were still OK with it. But 45 is a huge, huge, increase,” Saleem said. “I mean, you want to go up? Go like maybe 5 more percent, 10 more percent.”

What are often referred to as “sin taxes” on products like tobacco and vapes are seen as easy targets for state officials and lawmakers looking to find revenue sources while alienating the fewest possible voters.

The increases on tobacco and vaping product taxes taking effect July 1 were projected to raise some $50 million for the state, with $5 million going to tobacco cessation programs and $45 million helping to fund Medicaid. Another tax hike approved by lawmakers that includes a new per-wager tax on online sportsbooks could raise some $36 million for the state.

While the taxes on tobacco on vaping are often presented as a way to promote healthier lifestyles, David Merriman, a public policy professor at the University of Illinois Chicago and an expert in the state’s finances, said there is a risk in taxing vaping products so heavily that they are no longer seen as a viable alternative to tobacco.

“It’s potentially that it would discourage people from quitting cigarette smoking, or make them more likely to take on cigarette smoking versus something that might be a little less harmful,” Merriman said.

The state tax on a standard pack of 20 cigarettes is $2.98, and won’t change next month.

Nate Harris, CEO of the Illinois Fuel & Retail Association, which represents gas stations in the state that sell tobacco and vaping products, raised concerns about consumers taking their business to border states.

“They’ve known that a tax increase was on the way no matter what,” Harris said of the gas stations. “They’re disappointed that it’s increasing because ultimately it’s going to impact the consumers and impact their small business bottom lines as well.”

According to data provided by the Illinois chapter of the American Lung Association, close to 474,000 adults in Illinois use vaping products, with about 187,000 of them partaking daily. And e-cigarettes are popular with young people, with close to 17% of Illinois high school students reporting using them in 2021, the group said.

The ALA, along with other health advocacy organizations, supported the tax increases, said Kristina Hamiltion, the lung association’s Illinois advocacy director. While Democratic state lawmakers and officials said the tax hikes were necessary to help balance the state’s $55 billion budget, Hamilton and the association emphasized the health risks for tobacco and vaping usage.

While the cancer risks for cigarette and cigar smoking and other tobacco usage are well documented, the association has cited research showing how e-cigarettes contain and emit a number of potentially toxic substances, as well as moderate evidence showing that youths who use e-cigarettes are at a heightened risk for asthma exacerbations.

“We know that no tobacco product is safe. Tobacco products can cause various cancers, negative effects on adolescents’ developing brains, pregnancy risks and diseases of the heart, throat and gums,” Hamilton said. “And particularly with e-cigarettes, we’ve seen a rise in acute lung damage from individuals who use them at high rates.”

State and local governments in recent years have sought to regulate the vaping industry as its products increased in popularity.

In 2020, the city of Chicago banned flavored vaping products that appeal to teens. Last year, the state prohibited e-cigarette use in indoor spaces, adding electronic smoking devices to the list of banned items under the Smoke Free Illinois Act, the indoor smoking ban passed in the late 2000s.

“E-cigarettes contain nicotine and other chemicals which can be harmful to both those who use them and those who are exposed to them,” Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said in a statement shortly before the 2024 law change went into effect. “Just like smoking, vaping can lead to lung damage and nicotine addiction.”

At Mr. Vape & Smoke in Lincoln Park, Delgado said the tax increase presents another challenge to the state’s smoke shops.

Hopefully, he said, “people will still keep coming.”