DES MOINES, Iowa — A new Iowa law has put smoke shops in limbo by adding a 40% tax on glass and metal pipes and bongs.

Senate File 345 was quietly passed at the end of the 2024 legislative session and took effect on January 1, 2025. In addition to the 40% tax, the law requires smoke shops to pay a $1,500 sales permit and requires the business owner to keep a record of devices sold for five years.

“There’s no room for us to operate. You know, it takes all of our legs in the game,” said Zerron Horton, President of the Glass Industry Coalition of Iowa and owner of Unkl Ruckus’s Smoking Emporium & Skate Shop.

Horton helped lead the charge defeating a similar bill in 2021, but said he had no idea the law was being reconsidered last session.

“It was essentially hidden so no one could see it,” he said. “Originally, it was termed Senate File 363 and during the course of its changeover, they changed it to Senate File 345, which meant we couldn’t track it to make sure that we were paying attention and keeping up with updates. The other problem with that, too, is the fact that nobody knew about it until it was passed. Nobody in the industry had heard anything about it until literally we got an email from the Iowa Department of Revenue stating this is going to take effect January 1.”

The law also requires smoke stores to not only keep track of the number of devices they sell, but also maintain records of the buyers’ names, addresses, and age verification.

“I think it’s a very big issue and it’s a very big breach of our constitutional rights,” he said.

Additionally, Horton said the language in the law is vague and doesn’t properly lay out how smoke shops are supposed to operate under the law. When Horton reached out to the Iowa Department of Revenue for clarification, he told us he was met with more confusion and was unable to get any of his questions answered.

Horton also says the law hurts the American side of the industry, and it “now only supports imported goods coming in from China and India, all overseas basically with no ethical standards on how they are produced.”

Now, Horton hopes to kill the bill altogether or work with industry professionals and legislators to word the bill where it benefits both the tradesmen and the state.

“I’ve already seen it close five stores statewide … So, this is having implications all across the board from families that just work at home to businesses that are brick and mortar and have been for decades,” said Horton.

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