Why New Vape Laws & Tax Incentivise Disposables
Our new government has today announced the details of their Budget, which lays out how the next few years will look for us financially. It has been a long-awaited and much-anticipated event and will shape the country’s economic landscape.
It comes with lots of changes - £40bn in additional taxes, more money for the NHS, a freeze on fuel prices etc. - but most importantly for us, it comes with updates on how vaping will be affected.
After keeping on top of all news regarding vaping and e-liquids, and we’re unsurprised to hear that they’ve been included in Labour’s first Budget.
We’ve all been expecting to hear that there will be higher tax rates on e-liquids, but the new Budget has taken one step further.
We at DarkStar find ourselves asking why these new measures seem to be incentivising disposable vapes? Not the exact ones we see currently, but it doesn't take a lot of imagination to realise that adding a USB port to re-charge, and a rubber bunged hole to re-fill. gives essentially the same product, at a very marginally higher unit cost. Yes, the product will have the ability to be used multiple times, but in practice, it will likely be used much as it was before...
Let’s look at the facts:
Vaping duty will be introduced at £2.20 per 10ml of e-liquid, regardless of nicotine content.
The 2ml of liquid in modified disposables will be taxed at £0.44. This brings the retail price up from £4-5 to £4.44-5.44. This is in stark contrast to the sky-high tax rate for Short Fills which, at a staggering £26.40 tax rate, will bring Short Fills up to nearly £40 at retail. This will turn smokers away from using DIY e-liquids as a tool in their journey to quitting.
Despite the government having announced that the total ban of disposables will come into effect next year, this new tax guideline seems to reverse any good they were hoping to do.
Modified disposables being available on the market. and taxed at a lower rate per unit of nicotine than DIY alternatives, means they will still be more appealing to children and teenagers due to the simplicity and low cost, along with availability in the same unscrupulous local shops.
We have to ask why these new laws and taxes are being put in place? Why does the government seem set against those who have turned to DIY vaping to help them quit a smoking addiction?
We could support a ban on disposables - we’ve never sold one. But we’re very passionate about the instrumental and crucial role that DIY vaping can play in helping people to quit smoking. This new government policy seems to not have taken that into account.
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