KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 16 — High vape taxes could lead to an increase in the number of those smoking conventional cigarettes, a recent United States study showed.

Chad Cotti from University of Wisconsin-Oskosh’s Department of Economics led the 2020 study that looked at tax data, particularly the different taxes imposed on vape across the US.

Titled "Standardizing the Measurement of E-cigarette Taxes in the United States, 2010-2020” it noted that tax increases could lead to a markup in prices of vape products. This in turn led to increased conventional cigarette sales and use.

"Setting vape taxes at parity with cigarette taxes is not necessarily optimal, for example, several editorials recommend a strategy of taxing vape proportionate to their risk vis-à-vis cigarettes,” said the study. 

This study further reinforces the concerns of stakeholders in Malaysia over the sharp rise in taxes for vape e-liquids. 

When vape e-liquids was first introduced in Malaysia, it was set at a price of RM0.40 per millilitre, a figure most industry players felt was fair. 

But the three-fold increase from RM0.40 to RM1.20 per millilitre caused concern as it would cause a boom in the black market. 

While the increase in the tax has been put on hold, industry players continue to worry that vape will be treated in the same way as cigarettes.

They worry that this will push people towards cigarettes, particularly with the abundance of unregulated and smuggled cigarettes on the market.

Instead they are calling for risk-proportionate regulations and taxation for vaping to encourage smokers to switch to a safer alternative.

Industry players acknowledge that vaping is not risk-free but there is growing scientific evidence that it is less harmful than smoking which kills some eight million people around the world annually. 

On top of that, the 2021 Cochrane Review of 61 studies involving 16,759 adults showed that vaping with nicotine e-liquid can help smokers kick the habit.

According to the review, vaping with nicotine e-liquid is more effective in helping people stop smoking compared to alternatives like nicotine replacement therapy, smoking patches or gum and varenicline, a medicine to help people stop smoking, among others.