‘No plans to apply excise duty to vaping products’

The UK government has no current plans to apply an excise duty to non-tobacco nicotine or vaping products, said a Conservative MP last week.

Helen Whately, conservative MP Faversham and Mid-Kent, declared that the government believes not applying excise duty is an effective way of encouraging smokers to switch to less harmful alternatives.

“The government has no current plans to apply an excise duty to non-tobacco nicotine or vaping products. We believe these are an effective way of encouraging smokers to switch to less harmful alternatives.”

“Non-tobacco nicotine and vaping products are currently subject to the standard rate of VAT at 20 percent. Medicinally regulated products are subject to the reduced rate of VAT at 5 percent,” Whately said.

The MP was responding to a parliamentary question from Burnley MP Antony Higginbotham asking the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether HMRC had made an assessment of the potential merits of applying an excise duty to vaping and non-tobacco nicotine products.

📣Read the latest Parliamentary questions here!#vape #vaping #ecigarettes #ecigs #ecigarette #vapes #parliament pic.twitter.com/IfHdzVMgUm

— UKVIA (@Vaping_Industry) February 1, 2022

The 2021 Budget saw the minimum excise tax on tobacco products increase by RPI +3 percent, in addition to duty tax increases.  

E-cigarettes contain nicotine and are not risk-free but many experts believe they are less harmful than smoking. Vaping products are increasingly seen by experts as a very effective tool of smoking cessation.

Meanwhile, smokers trying to quit will be prescribed e-cigarettes on the NHS in months.

“Vaping revolution” is expected to be a part of health secretary Sajid Javid’s plans to increase life expectancy for the poorest as England is set to become the first country in the world to prescribe e-cigarettes to help smokers quit smoking.

A Whitehall insider said, “Mr Javid has made it clear he wants to level up health – tackling smoking is part of that. The MHRA opened the door to prescribing vapes.”