Vape Tax.. we all knew it was coming

[Simon G]

Thinking about it more... it might just be a perception thing @Reti .. Your Dad was probably around when almost everyone smoked. When I was at school all my friends smoked, now none of them do. So even 10% - 1 in 10 feels like 'hardly anyone' to me.

I used to walk into my favourite pub and almost everyone was smoking with ashtrays on every table, now I walk in and nobody is and that really changes your perception.

 

[MarylinC37]

One thing that has me a bit concerned at the moment is although the Gov have indicated forthcoming vape taxes shouldn't be too punitive as they currently want to encourage smokers to make the transition to vaping if they can't succeed in quitting by other methods, the current difference in pricing is enormous. A vaper can currently go into a high street shop and buy a 100ml shortfill and a couple of nic shots for £15,or 4 10ml MTL juices for approximately the same price - a smoker is looking at £12 for a budget brand pack of smokes or £15+ for a 'decent' pack Even 50g of budget rolling tobacco for those that roll their own will be £30.

I pretty much accept that vape taxes are inevitable, but one disturbing thing that is itching at the back of my head is tobacco and alcohol have always been easy targets for taxation - but a lot of pubs were struggling pre-covid, the majority of these went belly up during lockdowns (in Plymouth several of them are still boarded up with 'To Let' signs outside, a few were taken over, but the majority of the small inner-city pubs have now been converted into flats. Now most are struggling because of eyewatering energy costs. Continuing to raise alcohol taxes will probably wipe out the pub trade completely. Smoking is reducing, but if taxes are raised much higher more people will quit (which the Gov pretend to want because they can give themselves a pat on the back and brag about a positive achievement for a change), but the obvious downside is, inevitably, they will get less overall tax revenue from tobacco.

I think once vape is taxed it will become the new golden goose that becomes a target for extra taxation at every budget - even if the proposed (inevitable) vape taxes are relatively low I cant se them remaining low over the coming years.

God, I'm a fcn misery guts lol.

You're not being miserable. Just realistic.

Politicians will always do whatever they think will make them most popular, win them the most votes or be the easiest targets to tax so it's highly probable vaping will be high on their target list when it comes to tax.

I generally try to future proof myself from whatever the government might do about vaping but for other people it's certainly likely to become increasingly harder for them to vape affordably.

 

[Reti]

It might just depend where you live and places you go. I see very few people smoking these days... shockingly few to be honest.

I live in Leeds. Go figure lol

 

[Toby iVapour]

You need a prescription there to buy nicotine. I'm trying to find out how difficult it is to get one. It could be a case of going to the GP and saying "I'm quitting smoking. Can you prescribe me some nic please" and you walk away with a prescription.

No, it's difficult to get a vaping prescription in Aus apparently (hence such a low rate of vapers that have one) -

Currently only 8% of Australian vapers have a nicotine prescription. The prescription model is a significant barrier for adult smokers wishing to legally access regulated nicotine vaping products to quit smoking or to reduce smoking-related harm.
Most doctors are reluctant to prescribe nicotine. As of April 2023, there were only 1963 doctors authorised to prescribe nicotine out of >100,000 doctors in Australia. However only about 500 are publicly listed. The RACGP recommends that prescriptions are for 3 months only, although they can be up to 12 months supply.
The prescription model has led to a lucrative, thriving black market run by organised crime groups, selling unregulated, mislabelled, high nicotine content disposable vapes to adults and children.

https://colinmendelsohn.com.au/vaping/

Also, you would need to find a pharmacy that will actually stock vaping products (and the one you want) -

Since May 2021, Australian chemist shops and online pharmacies can sell commercial nicotine e-liquid products if you have a prescription and your doctor is an Authorised Provider. This refers to nicotine e-liquid in bottles, pods and disposables.
You will need to inform your doctor which product, brand and flavour you require and find out if an Australian pharmacy can provide it. The volume supplied per script is not limited, but is determined by the doctor.
However, there are only a very small number of community and online pharmacies which stock nicotine vaping products.

 

[vapesmarter]

looks like I was right about this thread

"my favorite food on a Tuesday" in the lounge section then

 

[tony68]

Any government is going to tax you. They will tax you on everything. We know that already. There were posters advertising "smoking is a good pick me up." Posters saying smoking kills. If you use it enough it will be taxed. If you don't then you wont . I'm still vaping but not smoking anymore and its been a great help. If they start taxing vapers in my sense then I will have to make a choice. Do I pay extra to keep from smoking while vaping or do I give up the vaping ,like i did the smoking and save even more money. The money I don't spend on vaping will be taxed anyway. I don't think they will tax vaping because so many children are vaping now and its a great way to tax the children and any government wont tax a child directly.

 

[Reti]

I don't think they will tax vaping because so many children are vaping now and its a great way to tax the children and any government wont tax a child directly.

Part of the proposed tax increase on vaping though was to make it unaffordable for children though...

 

[30deadcats]

its a great way to tax the children and any government wont tax a child directly.

The only reason this current government won't tax children directly is because they aren't earning. If they could they would.

 

[Crispycritters]

Part of the proposed tax increase on vaping though was to make it unaffordable for children though...

They achieved that with cigarettes by banning sales of cigs packs containing less than 20 - and banning half ounce/12.5g packs of rolling tobacco so the price of the minimum purchase doubled. They could have done the same thing with e-liquid. They wouldn't have to scrap the stupid 10ml max rule for eliquid containing nicotine - it would be easy to package 2 or 3 10ml bottles so you had to make a minimum purchase. But that method wouldn't generate additional tax revenue.

 

[andipandi]

They achieved that with cigarettes by banning sales of cigs packs containing less than 20.

Not wishing to derail but you can still buy 10, except they're wrapped in a tobacco leaf, not paper, they're not bad either!