‘Saint Tax’ on Vaping will Drive More People to Smoke
8 March 2024
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Christopher Snowdon writes for Spiked
IEA Head of Lifestyle Economics Christopher Snowdon has written for Spiked criticising the new tax on e-cigarette liquid.
Christopher said:
“If it discourages non-smokers from taking up vaping, it is surely bound to discourage smokers from doing likewise. This is exactly what economic studies of e-cigarette taxes have shown.
“Like butter and margarine, cigarettes and e-cigarettes are direct substitutes. If you double the price of butter, people will buy more margarine.
“By taxing e-cigarettes at a prohibitively high level, the government has shown itself to be not only deeply illiberal – that has been obvious for some time – but also to be cynical, greedy and spiteful. Its commitment to public health has been exposed as a sham. And Jeremy Hunt will go down in history as the man who taxed people for giving up smoking.”
Read Christopher’s full piece here.
Christopher said:
“If it discourages non-smokers from taking up vaping, it is surely bound to discourage smokers from doing likewise. This is exactly what economic studies of e-cigarette taxes have shown.
“Like butter and margarine, cigarettes and e-cigarettes are direct substitutes. If you double the price of butter, people will buy more margarine.
“By taxing e-cigarettes at a prohibitively high level, the government has shown itself to be not only deeply illiberal – that has been obvious for some time – but also to be cynical, greedy and spiteful. Its commitment to public health has been exposed as a sham. And Jeremy Hunt will go down in history as the man who taxed people for giving up smoking.”
Read Christopher’s full piece here.
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