INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s new tax on vaping is being cut even before it takes effect despite protests from anti-smoking advocates.

Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed a bill this week that included provisions cutting the 25% tax that wholesalers were to be charged for closed-system vaping cartridges such as Juul devices to 15%.

State lawmakers approved the higher rate last year for Indiana’s first tax on electronic cigarettes to start in July 2022.

Health groups and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce had urged lawmakers to keep the 25% rate, arguing they believed vaping devices should face taxes similar to tobacco products to discourage young people from starting to use them.

Those organizations have pushed unsuccessfully over the past several years to boost the cigarette tax that’s been unchanged since 1997 in hopes of lowering the state’s 19.2% smoking rate for adults.