- For the time being, the e-cigarette remains a relatively cheap alternative to ‘normal’ cigarettes.
- An additional tax on ‘vapes’ will have to wait until at least 2025, writes De Telegraaf.
- Meanwhile, more young people are becoming addicted. Last year, more than a fifth of Dutch people between the ages of 12 and 25 used an e-cigarette.
- Also read: If a pack of cigarettes costs 60 euros, half of the smokers will quit
Vaping is unhealthy. But an additional tax, as applies to other harmful products such as soft drinks, will have to wait until at least 2025, writes De Telegraaf.
The Rutte III cabinet chose to wait for a European excise tax, instead of introducing a consumption tax itself. The current outgoing cabinet Rutte IV joined this.
The problem? This measure is not at the top of Brussels’ priority list. The European Commission will not revise its tobacco tax directive until 2025 at the earliest, a spokesperson for Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag (D66) told De Telegraaf after inquiring in Brussels. The Netherlands will then have to introduce the new excise duties itself.
Meanwhile, more young people are becoming addicted. Last year, more than a fifth of Dutch people between the ages of 12 and 25 used an e-cigarette, according to figures from the Trimbos addiction institute.
The fact that vaping is so popular is partly due to the price. A pack of twenty cigarettes now costs almost 11 euros. An e-cigarette is about half the price, but contains twice as much nicotine, writes De Telegraaf.