Some policymakers are trying their best to push vaping and smoking into the same category, which would be detrimental for people who are looking to make the switch from smoking. At the moment, the European Commission has a consultation open to citizens about how they should deal with (amongst others) vaping in new legislation. Hurry up and submit your response, as the deadline for this consultation is Tuesday, June 22 , 2021.

We’ve put together some useful vaping taxation facts for those of you who want to submit to the European Commission’s consultation.

It’s important that you take a few minutes and submit your response before the consultation closes!

The consultation is accessible Aici and closes at midnight on June 22:

At the end of the consultation, you’ll have the option to attach a file. Feel free to use our taxation explainer.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

And don’t forget the main message: Vaping is an efficient way to quit smoking – don’t tax it like cigarettes

Fact Sheet on Vaping Taxation

The Alianța Mondială a Vaporatorilor strongly urges policymakers to stay away from equating smoking and vaping, especially when it comes to taxation. Making vaping less appealing to smokers – especially through increasing taxes, thereby prices of vaping products will discourage current smokers from switching to less harmful alternatives. This is certainly not going to be of any public health benefit.

Additionally, high taxes on vaping products are particularly harmful to the lower income brackets of the population by making it harder to switch, while this group makes up the largest proportion of current smokers.

We urge the EU Commission to follow the scientific evidence and abstain from tighter regulation and higher taxation of vaping products if we want to reduce smoking-induced burdens on public health. Access and affordability to vaping products need to be guaranteed.

Higher vaping taxation increases smoking rates 

• Making vaping less affordable to smokers will discourage current smokers from switching to less harmful alternatives.
• Studies show that increased prices on vaping products lead to higher smoking rates.

The regulatory environment for e-cigarettes plays a key role in its efficiency as a cessation method

• “Smokers who used ECs [e-cigarettes] for quitting in countries with less restrictive EC policy were more likely, […] to report sustained abstinence for at least 30 days.”
• Differentiated prices because of lower taxation on vaping products is essential for many people to switch.

Higher taxes on vaping products are particularly harmful to the lower income brackets of the population

• The highest proportion of current smokers are from low income population segments.

“[Higher taxes on] vaping liquid would raise the proportion of adults who smoke cigarettes daily by approximately 1 percentage point, translating to 2.5 million extra adult daily smokers” in the United States.
With tax increases in the EU similar consequences would be seen in Europe.