The Government should cut Value Added Tax (VAT) on the sale of
vaping products to help people to stop smoking, the Local
Government Association says today.
To mark No Smoking Day today (Wednesday), the LGA, which
represents councils in England and Wales, is calling for VAT on
e-cigarette sales to be reduced from 20 to 5 per cent to bring it
in line with sales on nicotine gum and patches.
Current legislation allows a 5 per cent rate to be applied
to “pharmaceutical products designed to help people stop
smoking tobacco”.
The LGA said there is growing evidence that using e-cigarettes
can help people quit smoking, with a recent study suggesting that
people who use vaping products such as e-cigarettes are twice as
likely to stop smoking than those who use nicotine patches.
Councils argue that making legal vaping products more affordable
and treating them equally with other cessation methods, will
incentivise more people to quit smoking by making them cheaper to
purchase.
As well as reducing VAT on e-cigarettes, councils are calling on
the Government to impose a Smokefree 2030 Levy on tobacco
manufacturers. The revenue generated from this could be targeted
in geographical areas, occupational groups and communities where
the need for cessation services are most needed.
Last year, around 13 per cent of the UK population smoked, with
smoking-related illness such as lung cancer still being one of
the leading causes of preventable death in the UK. As well as
impacting upon health, smoking places a significant burden on the
public purse – to the tune of £12.6 billion each year. Beyond the
significant cost to the health and social care system, it also
impacts the local economy through sick days and lost
productivity.
Reducing smoking rates among the remaining 5.7 million smokers in
England will reduce cardiovascular disease, respiratory
conditions and cancer, meaning people can live longer in better
health.
Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing
Board said:
“Council public health teams work hard to help reduce smoking
rates in their areas, alongside local charities and community
groups, and it is testament to their efforts that smoking rates
continue to fall.
“Cutting the VAT on the sale of e-cigarettes would be an
important way to continue to encourage more people to quit
smoking and would bring e-cigarettes in line with other cessation
methods such as patches and gum.
“There is increasing evidence that e-cigarettes, along with other
dedicated support, act as an important gateway to help people to
stop smoking, which reduces serious illness and death as well as
other pressures on health and care services.
“Every pound invested by government in council-run services such
as public health helps to relieve pressure on other services like
the NHS, criminal justice and welfare. Councils can help the
Government to achieve its ambition of eliminating smoking in
England by 2030, through their tobacco control and other public
health and support services, but need certainty over their
long-term funding.”
Notes to editors
An expert independent evidence
review published by the UK Health Security Agency
(UKHSA) concludes that e-cigarettes are significantly less
harmful to health than tobacco and have the potential to help
smokers quit smoking.
It is essential we continue to monitor evidence on e-cigarettes
as it emerges. The most comprehensive of e-cigarette reviews
commissioned by UKHSA is due for publication later this year and
includes data on patterns of use among adults and youth and 9
systematic reviews on the potential risks from vaping.
