Hamilton, ON, Oct. 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Newfoundland has announced a 20% tax on vapour products, to be implemented January 1, 2021. The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) cautions all governments that taxing a harm reduction product is counter productive, as it discourages improvements to public health and increases sales of tobacco products, our nations leading cause of death.
There is a vast amount of data to demonstrate the net harm taxation causes to public health. “While cigarette taxes reduce cigarette use and e-cigarette taxes reduce e-cigarette use, they also have important interactions on each other", said Michael Pesko, a health economist and assistant professor at Georgia State University, in a statement. "E-cigarettes and cigarettes are economic substitutes. So, if you raise taxes on one product, you will increase use of the other."
Pesko and other researchers drew upon sales data from 35,000 retailers across the nation for a seven-year period and concluded that for every 10% increase in e-cigarette prices, sales of vaping products dropped 26 percent. The higher tax on e-cigarettes resulted in an 11% increase in sales of traditional cigarettes, the researchers concluded in a study released last month. "We estimate that for every one e-cigarette pod no longer purchased as a result of an e-cigarette tax, 6.2 extra packs of cigarettes are purchased instead," Pekso said. "The public health impact of e-cigarette taxes in this case is likely negative."
Additionally, Minnesota conducted a study, “The impact of E-cig taxes on smoking rates: Evidence from Minnesota,” which found that taxing vaping products would lead to an 8.1% increase in tobacco use and a smoking cessation decrease of 1.4%. It also found that if vapour products had not been taxed an additional 32,400 adults would have quit smoking.
“Governments everywhere have an opportunity to drastically reduce smoking rates by supporting access to vaping. Studies have shown vaping to be the most effective cessation product globally. Yet, because vaping resembles the act of smoking it is often miscast. We encourage the Government of Newfoundland to work with the industry to better understand vaping and the harm reduction opportunity it offers,” said Darryl Tempest, Executive Director of the CVA.