Should Vaping Devices be hit with taxes?

I'm just wondering if vaping devices should be taxed. In my country, cigarettes are taxed heavily. I'm not aware yet if they consider taxing vaping devices. Have you heard of any country that does additional taxes for vaping? Should the government discourage people from vaping? In my opinion, they should do the opposite.

 

They should do the opposite so that hopefully current smokers would be able to find a much more healthier alternative. Should be taxed lightly, perhaps lighter than cigarettes at the moment as there should be many sales hopefully which would benefit the government.

 

They will be taxed regardless. If they become popular enough, they will be more heavily taxed, and otherwise, they will be taxed as a normal item. My personal thoughts are that if the device itself becomes more popular, they will use any issue that causes to rationalize why taxes should be increased on it. The problem with anything becoming popular that has any side effect is that it warrants a tax by creating a problem that must be solved.

 

In my country cigarettes are taxed heavily too, about 2-300% of their production price. I never heard about a tax for vaping devices, but who knows, in this world everything can happen, especially when we're talking about taxes I'd be expecting that at some point they'll tax out the air that I'm breathing.

 

As a vaper, I would say, of course not, but it is only a matter of time until governments will slap taxes on vaping devices and juice. It already happened here in my country, and the prices for juices and devices skyrocketed overnight.

 

I was thinking exactly that when I read this thread. I doubt the government will turn a blind eye to a potential source of extra taxes. It's all a question of time.

 

Well, as previous writers pointed out, only a matter of time until the govern realizes that here are good money to be taxed up. However I don't think vaping devices should be taxed, even though I might be a little subjective regarding this matter, I can't see how vaping does any bad to others. Probably it's just a matter of time until the govern sneaks their fingers into this business too, probably by the time most of people will have already give up on smoking for vaping, they taxes will be high.

 

To be honest, I don't think they should be taxed at all. We need to get to the stage where it's a very reasonable alternative to smoke cigarettes, so that more people are willing to do that instead of smoking at all. I don't think that the government will want to encourage people to give up smoking really, though, because of the fact that they are able to get so much money from it. This is wrong, because the priority should be to stop people from smoking because of their health, rather than make it difficult for them to stop.

 

They definitely shouldn't be taxed nearly as heavily as cigarettes, but like everything else (outside of food) they should still be taxed.

 

Unless they find that is it harmful to health, I see no reason to add any additional taxes. Vaping is a healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes and its usage should encouraged, especially for those having a difficult time quitting cigarettes. It would be a huge mistake to tax it to the point of making it economically unfeasible relative to buying a pack of cigarettes.

 

It`s more about the fact that many people have turned to vaping, instead of smoking. With that many people buying e-cigs and juice, they could milk that fact for additional income by taxing them. It makes sense from a financial point of view for sure.

 

From where I am, all products are taxed, even vapes and its mods. Of course, provided that you buy them from physical stores. There is what we call a VAT or value added tax to everything here, from fast food, to grocery items and other items like vapes. As far as introducing an additional tax, much like the SIN tax in cigarettes, I don't think that's necessary. Vaping shouldn't have such a SIN tax because:

• We're not risking other people's health like cigarettes do.
• We're not throwing away any residue like cigarette butts in streets or any other public place.
• We're not risking starting fires as well like what could happen with a thrown away cigarette.

So it makes perfect sense to not add any more tax to vapes. After all, it's called a SIN tax because it's a sin to smoke cigarettes and it affects everyone around the person who smokes them.

 

Personally, I don't think they should be taxed. However, If vaping gets really popular... I guess it's gonna be taxed. That's no good, as the whole equipment will become more expensive.

 

I don't think it will matter if we want it to be or not, sooner or later I've got no doubt that the government will be taking more than their fair share like they normally do.

If it was proven that vaping was better than smoking, it really shouldn't be taxed but if and when it is, that will show that the government are more worried about money than what they are about the people.

 

It's all a question of time before they increase taxes. For them to exempt e-cigarettes from taxes, it couldn't contain nicotine. I don't know if they would take that into account if they increased taxes.

 

I don't think they'll take anything into account when they increase the taxes to be honest, as I don't think they care.

If people stop buying as many cigarettes, then the government will have to try and make money out of us some other way, so that will be to tax the things that we are doing. That includes vaping unfortunately.

 

They have to find revenue somewhere, but I think you are right. Just as long as they get their taxes, they don't really care how they do it. They will come up with some other excuse for taxing the nicotine free juices.

 

In all possible honesty mate, I do not hate the idea of taxation nor do I think it is a bad idea, but....The cash should really come from somewhere else, nobody likes cashing out money heavily, especially on taxes.

Talking about vaping, I would consider it wrong to hit vaping with taxes, vaping sticks should actually be tax exempted items in my opinion, but hey,I do not really have a say in that department. The government has that handled, unfortunately.

 

I agree that the government needs to get money from somewhere, but at the same time it's a bit hypocritical to tell people to try and stop smoking, but then hit those same people again with another tax because they're doing what they've been told to do in the first place.

 

I think the real reason that governments want to tax vapors is that they are loosing tax revenue as more people switch from cigarettes to e-cigs. Publicly, all governments want people to quit smoking so that they can avoid the health care costs down the road. Privately they don't want smokers to quit because of the tax revenue from cigarettes. The easiest way to raise taxes on an item and have people continue to buy it is with cigarettes. Smokers will complain, but the anti-smokers are louder. As more and more smokers switch to vaping products, that tax revenue starts to drop and governments do not have a way to compensate. That's why they want to tax vaping products the same way as cigarettes. I don't believe it has anything to do with protecting the public and everything to do with not losing an easy tax source on an easy item to increase taxes where the majority of the general public won't notice. If the general public doesn't notice, then there are no votes at stake due to a tax increase.