Taxpayers' Union welcomes service stations' call for vaping reform

15 MARCH 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The fact service stations have now joined calls to legalise nicotine e-cigarettes shows how much harm current tobacco policies are causing, says the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union.

Taxpayers' Union Executive Director Jordan Williams says, "We are clearly at a turning point when even a sector that makes significant money from selling tobacco now agrees that we need to legalise the safer alternative."

"The current policy of just hiking taxes every year causes serious vulnerability for retailers, with minimal impact on smoking rates. Police Minister Stuart Nash knows this, but is failing to act."

"The Ministry of Health, economists, and now tobacco retailers are now all crying out for legalisation of vaping. The new Government's stalling on this issue is becoming shameful. They should reform the law now instead of using the Ministry's evaluation of tobacco taxes as an excuse to delay."

The Taxpayers' Union released a report on the failure of tobacco taxes on December 31, titled Up in Smoke: The social cost of tobacco tax
ENDS

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