Due to a tax hike included in this year’s budget proposal by the federal government, vaping may become more expensive this summer.
The cost of a vape pod will rise on July 1 by 12 to 24 cents, depending on the location of Canadians. Over the following five years, this hike is anticipated to generate $310 million in revenue for the government.
Public health experts argue that the tax is ineffective and may have unforeseen implications, despite Ottawa’s claim that the price increase will lower high vaping rates among younger Canadians.
Although he thinks this fee would assist lower the number of vapers in Canada, Rob Cunningham, a senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society, says it is low-hanging fruit.
A twelve percent increase is very similar to the inflation of the previous few years. Thus, there hasn’t been much of a rise at all, according to Cunningham. “We could ascend far higher.”
After working so hard for years to gradually reduce smoking, it is incredibly upsetting that we now have to learn these lessons again and over again.
Dr. Shawn Aaron, an Ottawa respirologist, says he believes the government is failing to take appropriate action against vaping and smoking among Canadians, even though he supports any steps taken in this regard.
The federal government may become much more powerful. Presumably, the secret is now known. Although it will be difficult to reverse the ease of access to vaping products, the government must take action to discourage young people from engaging in this pastime.
In 2022, 15% of Canadians between the ages of 15 and 19 vaped daily, according to Statistics Canada. In the same year, 10% of Canadians between the ages of 20 and 24 vaped daily, making young adults more likely to vape than teenagers.
An investigation concerning e-cigarette taxes in the US was co-authored by Rahi Abouk, a lecturer at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. There’s a caveat to the research: for every $1 increase in e-cigarette taxes, there is a roughly 12% drop in e-cigarette use.
The federal government also declared a tobacco tax hike in Budget 2024, which went into effect in April, raising the total levy by an additional $5.49 per box of 200 cigarettes, in an attempt to counteract that unintended outcome. However, Yale University associate professor of public health Abigail Friedman, who co-wrote the study with Abouk, is worried the cigarette tax might not be sufficient.
“There has been a significant increase in e-cigarettes,” Friedman stated. “Yet there is a very slight increase in cigarettes at the same time.”
Cigarettes in lesser quantities are more expensive since the federal tax increase on a pack of 20 cigarettes comes out to $3.72, while the vape tax equivalent is $1.12 to $2.24. The $5 vaping tax only increases when purchasing in volume, such as a box of 200 cigarettes and the corresponding amount of vape pods.
However, variations in retail prices might prevent the balance from shifting in favour of tobacco. In Canada, a pack of cigarettes typically costs between $14 and $19, whereas a vape can be bought for as little as $5.
Because Canada has higher tobacco tax rates than the US, Cunningham stated he is not concerned about Canadians smoking.
He declared, “We’re far from a situation where the retail prices of those two product categories are equal.” “Yes, we do need to raise the tax on e-cigarettes. It is necessary for us to raise tobacco taxes. We are able to do both.
Maria Papaioannoy, a member of the group Rights4Vapers, who spoke with Health Canada regarding a prohibition on vape juice tastes, is unconcerned by this.
In the first year of a taste ban, four billion cigarettes will be produced and sold, according to Papaioannoy, if both the tax and the prohibition are implemented.
The four billion number is an extrapolation of research by Friedman and Abouk, which showed that 12 more cigarettes were sold for each 0.7-milliliter vape pod that was not sold in the US because of a flavor-restricting law.
According to projections from the Vaping Industry Trade Association, if the taste restriction and tax are put into effect, there would be an additional four billion cigarettes sold year based on vaping sales in Canada.
However, Toronto resident Marion Burt, a Rights4Vapers member, claims she won’t give up even if the government increases the price and eliminates varieties.
Burt declared, “I value my health and I won’t stop vaping even if the government doesn’t.” “I’ll either make my own, unregulated vape juice in my kitchen sink or I’ll find a black market.”
According to the Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey, the majority of Canadians who vape were between the ages of 15 and 24, while over half of all persons who are older than 25 said they use fruit flavours the most.
The federal government said in June 2021 that it would put out regulations banning the addition of any flavours to e-cigarettes other than menthol and mint. But there isn’t a federal taste prohibition as of 2024.
Aaron claims that vaping has major health risks, despite the fact that it is portrayed as less dangerous than smoking cigarettes.
Aaron stated, “There are some terrible diseases linked to vaping.” Additionally, those who begin vaping run the danger of starting to smoke cigarettes as well as continuing to vape nicotine.
Aaron says it’s unclear if vaping is safer than smoking because long-term consequences may not show signs for several decades. He hopes that before it’s too late to change course, the government will take action.
There will be a growing need for the federal government to step in even more as we learn more about the long-term, detrimental health effects of vaping.
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