Introduction:

By 2026, the UK government wants to put a tax on vape products. At the moment, it is proposed mainly for vaping e-liquid, as disposables are seen to be banned in the next year. The proposal as of the current date is to put a 5% tax on these products as a way of raising money for the NHS. Their estimation of 2.9 million people in the UK vaping will make £40 million for the NHS, sounds good right? However, this is just surface-level thinking, as this will affect more than what they have bargained for. As a reputable UK vape wholesaler and retailer, here at UK Vape Supply we will give you all the information and how you could help.

Acknowledging the effects of vaping:

The reasons why vaping isn’t taxed currently are that it is a powerful tool to help smokers reduce or even cut out all together their smoking habit. This has been beneficial to roughly three million people across the whole of the UK. It has shown its effectiveness in stopping people from smoking; however, it isn’t without its negatives. Even professionals don’t truly understand the full scope, as in the grand scheme of things, vaping is still relatively new but, Public Health England did say that vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking tobacco. The long-term effects of vaping and the user’s health haven’t been studied, but is this enough to justify putting strict regulations and taxes on these products when we can see the benefits they're providing right now? With this being such a political debate in current news, it is always a tricky thing to approach, but helping people quit smoking should be a priority where we can see the long and short-term negatives this kind of habit is doing to destroy people's lives. So putting taxes in place in order to raise the price, which could be out of some people’s budget, could be detrimental, as they are more likely to fail to quit and go back to smoking. We believe at UK Vape Supply that the individual's well-being comes first!

Concerns about taxation:

The impact that this will have on the NHS is shouted from both positive and negative ends. Looking into this, it seems, on a surface level, that it will be great for raising more money for the NHS. However under it all, there is already a problem that this potentially has to cause with everything. The NHS has dealt with so much in terms of people’s health when it comes to the risks of smoking cigarettes, as the likes of lung cancer, respiratory problems, and oral problems have pushed the NHS to spend lots of time and resources helping people with these problems. The fact that vaping has helped so many people get off tobacco has potentially lowered this problem, accounting for fewer people going into hospitals for these smoking related conditions, which saves the NHS money already! If people were put into a situation that nudged them back into these habits, the money that is raised for the NHS would not meet an equilibrium with the money that is used to help people who have smoking-related health issues. The lack of foresight by the government is quite apparent in this respect.

What even are the statistics?:

The NHS statistics on admissions to hospital for smokers are 7%–8% (recorded in 2020), while for vapers, this percentage is less than <1% (recorded in 2021-22). Taxation for most substances or objects is to fund the problems they cause for the government to fix, such as road tax for damage to the tarmac or smoking that causes hospitals time and resources. The 430 admissions compared to the 3,100,000 vapers in the UK make no reason why there is such a need for taxation on vapes to cover the low costs that this puts on the NHS. Even more so when you compare it to the 506,100 smokers admitted to hospitals across all 6,500,000 smokers nationwide.

A Call for Evidence-Based Policy:

Ultimately, decisions regarding the taxation of vaping products should be informed by evidence and stakeholder input. Policymakers must consider the latest research on vaping's health effects, its role in smoking reduction, and its impact on healthcare costs. Additionally, engaging with industry stakeholders and public health experts can help ensure that any proposed measures strike the right balance between fiscal responsibility and public health outcomes.

Conclusion:

We believe that the unintended consequences of this act on taxation upon vapes are something to be aware of, especially for the government. The potential benefits it brings to smokers and the NHS are something that cannot be overlooked. As we navigate this challenge, we encourage everyone to keep an open mind and find common ground that helps both people and the system as a whole. Evidence shows that it would have great benefits to work against smoking, and keeping vaping widely accessible has been shown to be the most effective way.

What can we do as a collective and as a community to combat this and raise awareness about it? Well, the best thing that you can do is contact your local MP by either sending a letter or finding their contact details and writing an email. Battling this at the source can always be the best solution when trying to resolve an issue you have with the government or your area at large. Unfortunately, we are in no position of great power to combat this alone, so having your help would mean a great deal! At the moment, there is a lot of information out there about this issue; however, we have noticed in our research that there is a lot of misinformation spreading. Keeping up to date with what the NHS says directly or finding reputable sources is the key thing to do. With this, we made sure to meticulously search for as much factual evidence as possible to give you the facts. Thank you for taking the time to read this post, and together we can make a difference.