The Vape Tax
The Chancellor is set to announce a tax on vaping products in his final budget before the General Election
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by Dave Cross
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The New Nicotine Alliance said: “It has been widely trailed in the media that the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is planning to implement an extra tax on vaping liquids in the budget on Wednesday. This would be a monumental mistake which just adds to a systematic dismantling of the government’s previous world-leading approach to harm reduction and will cost lives.
“The New Nicotine Alliance is disappointed that the government is abandoning opportunity after opportunity to increase the chances of achieving its own Smoke-free 2030 goal. In just a few short weeks, the UK government has undone its former position as a world-leader in reducing the prevalence of smoking.
“Ignoring expert public health organisations such as Action on Smoking and Health, the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training, Fresh-Balance and many others who were acutely aware of the unintended consequences of a ban on single use vapes, the government has committed to removing them which can only deter people who smoke from switching to products which could save their lives.”
The Independent British Vape Trade Association commented that it “strongly believes that a tax applied to vaping products would disproportionately affect both public health and the government’s smoking cessation efforts. It would be likely to significantly increase illicit trade, which is one of the main causal factors in the increase in youth experimentation and use. The IBVTA therefore does not believe excise should be applied to any vaping products at this time.”
IBVTA Chair, Marcus Saxton, said: “Applying an excise on liquid refills used with refillable and rechargeable devices would do very little to elevate the prices of products most liable to youth uptake, and conversely disincentivises moving consumers to more sustainable products.
“There’s also the potential negative effect of an excise on public services utilising vapes within their smoking cessation services. The IBVTA do not believe that any excise tax should be applied to products supplied via these services.”
John Dunne, Director General of the UK Vaping Industry Association, said: “Vaping is proven to be the most effective way for smokers to quit and in doing so helps drastically reduce the cost of care the NHS provides to smokers.
“It makes absolutely no sense to make it more difficult for adults to stop smoking by penalising those who choose a safer and healthier option in vaping. Smoking kills 250 people every day in the UK and according to Action on Smoking and Health costs the UK £17bn a year. A Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) report in 2022 found that smokers switching to vaping saved the NHS £322m, a figure that was estimated to more than double if 50% of UK smokers made the switch to vapes.
“Surely we should be doing everything we can to help smokers escape a habit that kills so many. Increasing taxes on vaping will make vapes less accessible for the most disadvantaged in society who have the highest smoking rates and are most in need of an effective tool to quit.
“The Government continue to hide their heads in the sand, while taking actions that will fuel a black market which is already in danger of being out of control. Restricting access to vapes will not only mean more smokers, it will also mean more illegal and unregulated vapes. We need the Government to license vape retailers and properly enforce the law against youth access before it is too late.”
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous vape companies to develop content for their websites.
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