RJR Vapor Avoids Texas Tobacco Taxes on Oral Nicotine Products

RJR Vapor Co. is entitled to a tax refund of more than $16,000 from the state of Texas because its oral nicotine products don’t contain tobacco or tobacco substitutes, a state appeals court affirmed Thursday.

“To put it simply, ‘tobacco’ and ‘nicotine’ are not synonymous,” Justice Gisela D. Triana wrote for the Texas Court of Appeals, Third District. “Nicotine is a chemical found in tobacco, but no part of the tobacco plant remains in nicotine isolate after the extraction process is complete.”

However, because RJR Vapor’s products aren’t subject to Texas’s Cigars and Tobacco Products Tax, its argument that the ...