Slash VAT on vape products to help ‘quitters’, industry recommends

The Government has a ‘big job’ ahead if it is to help Britain go smoke-free by 2030 and should cut VAT on vape products to help get there, the industry body UKVIA has said.

Currently, vape products are liable for 20% VAT compared to a rate of 5% for other nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs).

John Dunne, director of the UKVIA said: “The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics reveals that while smoking levels continue to decline, the Government still has a massive job to meet its smoke-free target by 2030 for England alone, with some 6.9m adults still smoking across the UK as a whole.”

This showed, he added, that now was the right time for further action: “It’s now high time that Government and its relevant agencies fast track vaping take-up among existing smokers to realise its smoke-free vision for the UK. The ONS confirmed in its report that “e-cigarettes are increasingly being used by smokers to help quit smoking”.

While smoking rates have fallen dramatically in recent years the vape industry is concerned that a recent plateauing in usage of vape products could mean smokers are not accesses a smoking cessation aid that is proven to work.

Dunne added: “This comes on the back of the Public Health England evidence review of vaping earlier this year which stated that vaping poses a small fraction of the risk of smoking and that when e-cigarettes are used as part of a quit attempt, success rates are comparable with or higher than licensed medication alone.”