The government of Portugal wants to increase excise taxes on e-liquids in 2024. Nicotine e-liquids will have an excise tax increase of 4 percent, up to €0.351 ($0.373) per milliliter, and nicotine-free e-liquids will be subject to a €0.175/milliliter excise tax.

Nicotine-containing and nicotine-free e-liquids will also be subject to a minimum tax corresponding to 25 percent and 12.5 percent of the tax applicable to traditional cigarettes, respectively.

“Increasing the taxation of e-liquids in such a way will make vaping a less attractive option to consume nicotine and prevent low[-income] and middle-income groups from accessing the products,” said World Vapers Alliance Community Manager Alberto Gomez Hernande in a statement.

“It risks pushing vapers back to smoking and preventing smokers from switching due to affordability reasons. Portugal should follow the steps of countries that are successfully reducing smoking rates by encouraging smokers to switch, such as the United Kingdom and Sweden; instead, Portugal has the highest excise tax rate on vaping products in the EU.”

Read the full text here