E-cig tax plea in UK

With National No Smoking Day coinciding with Budget day in the UK, the Chancellor is being urged to recognise the role of vaping in ‘improving public health and saving billions of pounds for the NHS [National Health Service]’.

A press note from the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) said that it was known that in delivering his budget today, the Chancellor would be looking to impose a rise in tobacco excise.

But it was vital that he ignored calls from the EU to treat vaping products in the same way. Evidence from other European Countries demonstrated that imposing excise duties on vaping products put at risk a ‘potentially seismic public health opportunity that is already saving the NHS billions’.

‘The public have displayed a huge vote of confidence in vaping; figures show that over 2.8 million people have now embraced vaping, the press note said. ‘Public Health England is clear that vaping is at least 95 percent less harmful than smoking, and this view is now being endorsed by the wider UK public health community. It is self-evident that adopting a harm reduction approach, the promotion of safer alternatives to those who would otherwise smoke, can bring enormous public health benefits.

‘Smoking levels are being drastically reduced by the availability of hugely popular vaping alternatives. The NHS values each person who quits smoking as saving £74,000; even simple arithmetic shows that the smokers who have switched to vaping, and no longer smoke, already represent a saving of more than £96bn.

‘It would make no sense for the Chancellor to ignore these benefits and elect instead to follow the example of European Commission; the architects of the ill designed vaping regulations who to date have ignored the UK’s harm-reduction approach and are instead seemingly prioritising excise measures on vaping products.’

Mark Pawsey MP, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on e-cigarettes, was quoted as saying that the group had taken evidence from many representatives of the public health and research community, as well as from vapers and the vaping industry itself.

“What is clear is that the key driver in the popularity of e-cigarettes is the desire from smokers to switch to a much less harmful alternative,” he said. “The UK is a leader in harm-reduction policy, and it is important that we continue to be. I am sure the Chancellor will be led by the evidence, and the evidence suggests that punitive taxation on vaping products discourages their uptake. Given the cost savings they potentially represent to the health service; punitive measures would surely be a backward step.”

Meanwhile, UKVIA’s Charles Hamshaw-Thomas, said that the almost half of Britain’s 2.8m vapers who no longer smoke already represented a saving of £96 billion.

“With there still being approximately nine million smokers in the UK just imagine the savings if we get more of them to switch,” he said.

“They say Mr Hammond [the Chancellor] has an eye for detail, so surely he can see how those numbers stack up, particularly while occupying the national platform he has on No Smoking Day.”