The vaping industry has been quick to react to yesterday’s budget announcement, and has been giving its opinions in its aftermath. We will update this page as more comment from this heavily affected market comes through.
Speaking of the upcoming tax planned for liquids, founder of action group We Vape, Mark Oates, says he has fears for ex-smokers as a result. “This is a tax on people choosing a vastly safer way of consuming nicotine. Where this has been introduced elsewhere in the world, taxes on vaping have increased smoking rates.
“It will push some of the poorest people in society into poverty simply because they enjoy nicotine, which carries no more health risk than a cup of coffee or tea.”
John Dunne, director general of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), says the new levy will price some out of the market. “Whilst a flat rate tax versus one graded on different nicotine strengths is favoured so as not to deter smokers who rely on higher concentrations of nicotine when they start transitioning over to vapes, the additional cost of £2.64 (including VAT) per 10mls of e-liquid is a kick in the teeth for former adult smokers who have switched to vaping. It will also be the highest rate in Europe.”
Understandably, Dunne believes that other pressure on purse strings will now make vaping less appealing to quitters. “Some three million adults are former smokers thanks to vaping. This announcement today deters adult smokers from considering vapes as a method to give up their habits, and hits the lowest paid who go for more price sensitive e-liquid options, which currently start at 99p and will rise to £3.83, representing a shocking rise of 267%.”
“It’s a nonsensical move to put a severe punitive tax on vaping.”
“For a Government that places a great focus on the NHS, it’s a nonsensical move to put a severe punitive tax level on vaping when the category has done so much to reduce the number of adult smokers requiring medical attention by being a driving force in the decline of smoking rates to record low levels in recent years.
“Today’s announcement is effectively a revenue grab from former smokers and penalising them for making considerably less harmful choices. It would also make more sense for vapes to be taxed at a lower VAT rate, which is the case for other Nicotine Replacement Therapies, which have proven to be considerably less successful than vapes.”
Meanwhile Dan Marchant (left), director of the UK’s largest vaping retailer, Vape Club, was equally irritated by yesterday’s news. “It’s an absolutely insane idea to ban disposable vapes and the consequences will be far worse than any current issues we face with the products. The UK already has a thriving black market for illegal disposable vapes - in fact, since 2020, a reported 4.18 million illegal vapes have been seized by authorities.
Dan points to a lack of regulation in the illicit market and the ramifications that could have after a tax is introduced. “The over-capacity and often over-strength products, which have not been through the regulatory processes in the UK to ensure they are fit for purpose, are dangerous due to the unknown and potentially harmful ingredients that have been found in them.
“It’s estimated that the illegal market is actually as big as the legal market, and with so many adults relying on disposable vapes to stay away from cigarettes any kind of ban is just going to result in a boom for the illegal traders.”
Dan adds that the industry itself seems to be splintering in two. “The responsible side of the industry is literally begging for the authorities to enforce the regulations ad take serious action against the businesses flouting the rules. What’s needed is a licensing scheme so proper age verification tests can be applied to every retailer. Higher fines must also be applied to every breach for the rogue sellers.
“We agree with the Government that action needs to be taken to protect children from vaping in the UK, but we need to strike a balance between enforcing tighter restrictions whilst not discouraging those looking to quit smoking.”
Elsewhere, the Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA), reiterates concerns of unintended consequences.
Welcoming the change of policy from the previous government’s tiered proposed structure, chair, Marcus Saxton (right), said: “The government has already proposed regulation that will ban single use products, which despite helping many adult smokers access vaping, have via irresponsible retailers been disproportionately accessible to children.
“It would seem a little questionable then to increase the cost of vaping, especially given there are still around six million adult smokers for who you’re trying to give every opportunity to make the transition to less harmful 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.”
“Increasing the cost of the most successful smoking cessation aid is a really stupid thing to do.”
Simon Clark (left), director of the smokers’ lobby group Forest, added: “If the government’s aim is to reduce the number of smokers, increasing the cost of the most successful smoking cessation aid is a really stupid thing to do. A better solution to the issue of children vaping is not to penalise adults who are trying to quit smoking but to prosecute and punish those who sell vapes to anyone under 18.”
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