KUALA LUMPUR – All e-cigarette and vaping products, including those without nicotine vape, should be taxed in line with public health principles, an advocacy group said.
The Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control (MCTC) said Budget 2023, tabled yesterday, fell short in proposing taxes only on nicotine-based e-cigarettes and nicotine vape.
However, it is non-nicotine vape and e-cigarettes products which are used recreationally, and they make up a large part of the RM2 billion per year profit reported by the industry.
“While some quarters continue to position e-cigarette and vaping products containing nicotine as part of smoking cessation strategies, it must be clearly understood that products not containing nicotine only have a role in terms of recreational use.
“These unsafe products definitely need to be taxed as well. Taxation will be an important strategy in making them unaffordable and unavailable to children and adolescents who are prohibited from utilising them,” the council said in a statement.
“The actual tariff for vape and e-cigarettes may vary in accordance with the presence or absence of nicotine, in addition to the amount of nicotine content within these products,” it added.
MCTC proposed that at least half the revenue collected from this new excise duty be channelled to the Health Ministry to strengthen smoking cessation initiatives, education programmes and provide nationwide services and therapy to help people quit smoking. – The Vibes, February 25, 2022
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