Talking Retail Grocery and product news for independent retailers
This move, according to Evapo, is poised to not only bolster the illicit vaping market but also to detrimentally affect smokers who are trying to quit.
Andrej Kuttruf, CEO of Evapo, critically addresses the implications of this tax increase, stating, “The true winners from today’s Budget are criminals that supply the illicit market for vaping in the UK.
“The tax increase, without any big step up in efforts to tackle the black market through increased border controls or solving the questions of border checks between Northern Ireland, Great Britain, and the EU, will only pour petrol on the flames of the already flourishing black market and hurt legitimate retailers that follow the rules.”
Highlighting the potential negative impacts on public health, Kuttruf said: “The government’s decision to tax vaping liquid by nicotine strength is misguided and will likely stall, if not reverse, the UK’s declining smoking rates.
“Most of the 2.5 million former smokers who used vapes to quit, which Public Health England has routinely said is 95% less harmful than smoking, started their quitting journey by vaping the highest strength nicotine before reducing and ultimately quitting.
“Today’s tax rises make that journey harder for those trying hardest to quit.”
Evapo’s CEO further criticised the government’s disproportionate focus on vaping, saying: “Vaping has helped the UK to more than halve the amount of cigarettes sold compared to ten years ago, saving the taxpayer billions in cessation and NHS costs, but the government disproportionately taxing vaping liquids and banning disposable vapes for 1.5 million adult disposable vape users will undermine its own target for the UK to become smoke free by 2030.”
“Evapo believes the best way to support the public finances, protect children, help smokers quit, and stop the criminals that sell vapes illegally is by introducing a common sense, evidence-based licensing regime, as was launched at a Parliament last month.”
