The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils in England and Wales, has urged the government to cut VAT on vape products to help more people quit smoking.
The LGA said VAT on vape should be reduced from 20% to 5% to bring them in line with the sale of nicotine gum and patches.
Current legislation allows for a 5% tax on drugs designed to help people quit smoking.
The LGA said growing evidence that using vape can help people quit smoking.
It said making legal vape products more affordable and treating them the same as other methods of quitting smoking would incentivize more people to quit.
In addition to reducing VAT on vape, the council calls on the government to impose a smoke-free 2030 tax on tobacco manufacturers and direct the revenue to areas, occupational groups, and communities that need it most.
Last year, around 13% of the UK population smoked, and smoking-related diseases, such as lung cancer, remained one of the leading causes of preventable deaths in the UK.
David Fothergill, Chair of the LGA Community Wellbeing Board, said: “The Board’s public health teams work with local charities and community groups to help reduce smoking rates in their areas. And the continued decline in smoking rates is a testament to their efforts.
“There is growing evidence that vapes and other specialist support are an important way of helping people to quit smoking, thereby reducing serious illness and death and other pressures on health and care services.”
“Every pound the government spends on council-run services such as public health helps to reduce pressure on other services such as the NHS, criminal justice and welfare. Councils can help the government achieve its ambition to eliminate smoking in England by 2030 through tobacco control and other public health and support services, but need to identify their long-term funding.”
