A new bill  would add a tax on vaping products.

The tax could raise nearly $50 million during the next two years.

House Bill 32 would also increase taxes on tobacco products.

Health officials are hoping a tax hike will discourage teens from buying those products.

They also expect the tax to boot state revenue.

A House committee advanced a bill Tuesday that would increase taxes on vaping products and other items such as cigars and chewing tobacco, which is estimated to raise $50 million of new tax revenue over the next two fiscal years.

The House Appropriations and Revenue Committee voted to approve House Bill 32, sponsored by Rep. Jerry Miller, R-Louisville, by a 21-1 vote.

Beyond just raising new tax revenue, Miller touted the bill as a way to decrease the use of electronic cigarettes and vaping products by young Kentuckians, arguing that an increase in price would discourage their purchase.

Representatives of the Kentucky Smoke Free Association, an organization of 400 vape shop owners, countered that the legislation would hurt their businesses and discourage adults from vaping as a way to quit smoking cigarettes, while pushing youth to obtain more addictive or dangerous vaping products online.

House Bill 32 would add vaping products to the list of smokable tobacco products such as cigars that are subject to a wholesale tax, with that rate increasing from 15% to 25%.

The legislation would also double the per-unit tax on non-smokable and chewable tobacco products, which is identical to language from Gov. Andy Beshear’s two-year budget proposal, but does not affect the tax rate on packs of cigarettes.

Rep. Terry Miller told the committee the bill would increase taxes on vaping products to make them closer to but not greater than taxes on cigarettes, as he wants vaping “to continue to be able to be used as a way to get off cigarette smoking, but at the same time get ahead of the real health crisis we’re seeing, which is youth use.”