You’d be hard-pressed to find many Britons who haven’t felt the impact of Rachel Reeves’ brief stint as Chancellor.
Changes to inheritance tax, capital gains tax and the winter fuel allowance will loom large for many readers.
For businesses, higher labour costs and changes to business rates have been painful.
But spare a thought for me and the 5.5million other vapers in Britain who will be paying even more for our bad habits from this week.
The new vaping tax, announced in 2024, will add £2.20 to every 10ml of e-liquid, alongside a £2.20 increase in tobacco duty for every 100 cigarettes from October 1.
I don’t expect much sympathy. Vaping is a terrible habit I’ve been trying to kick for four and a bit years.
Like millions of others, I took it up after more than a decade of smoking cigarettes.
And, truthfully, my nicotine addiction is probably no better than it was when I smoked. I pollute my lungs, I vape far more frequently than I ever smoked and I know it’s anti-social. I’ve heard it all before.
I picked up vaping to stop smoking – now I’m being handed the bill (stock image)
But I didn’t choose to become addicted to this pineapple-flavoured battery.
I started vaping because I genuinely believed and was told, in no uncertain terms, that it was a better alternative to smoking.
Public health bodies promoted it as a way for smokers to move away from cigarettes. The Government’s own messaging also encouraged smokers to make the switch.
So I duly followed that advice and now it feels as though the Treasury is sending me the bill for doing exactly that.
The fact that I’ve failed to kick the habit, even after the ban on disposable vapes last June, is not the Government’s fault.
But nor should the Government pretend there are no consequences to making vaping substantially more expensive.
And this isn’t simply a Labour idea. The previous Conservative government had already proposed a vaping tax, launching its own consultation on the changes.
The Treasury expects the duty to raise an extra £550million a year by 2030-31. My rough calculations suggest I’ll personally pay almost £150 more in tax, taking my annual vaping bill to around £700.
Putting that number on a page is sobering.
Vapes are certainly more convenient, and tastier, than cigarettes. Some of my equally addicted friends have joked that they’ll have to go back to smoking.
If you make vaping considerably more expensive, you narrow the financial gap between vaping and smoking.
And if one of the main incentives for a smoker to switch is removed, what is the Government gaining?
In my case, I could save money by returning to my trusty pouch of Golden Virginia, which would be a ridiculous outcome for a policy designed to improve public health.
Even switching to a nicotine-free vape doesn’t provide much of an escape route, because the duty will apply to e-liquids regardless of whether they contain nicotine.
Industry experts argue that the Treasury has underestimated how much e-liquid vapers actually get through.
A survey by the Vape Club and UKVIA suggests real-world consumption is almost twice the Treasury’s estimated 617ml a year.
Dan Marchant, director of Vape Club, put it rather neatly: ‘You can’t set a fair tax rate on a made-up number.’
Hear, hear.
And then there is the black market. As we’ve seen with other punitive taxes, hardened vapers won’t just shrug and hand over more money.
They’ll instead turn to illegal imports or counterfeits, of which there is no shortage in my area.
I accept the Treasury needs to take in as much cash as it can, and I accept that my unvirtuous habit is not the biggest injustice facing the country. I also accept that this could deter children from developing the habit.
But I’m deeply uncomfortable with the Government telling smokers that vaping is a route out and taxing that very same product.
I don’t want the Government to subsidise my addiction, but it should think about what happens to people’s behaviour when you tax them without a realistic alternative.
Making it more expensive won’t make me, and millions of others, quit overnight.
Instead, they may look to a packet of Marlboro, a pouch of Golden Virginia, or a mystery vape bought from your local market.
I’d love to stop vaping. I’m just not sure that making my trusty Lost Mary £150 more expensive is what will do it.
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