A new tax incentive framework that could increase motivation for the use of alternative products—such as e-cigarettes or heated tobacco products, which produce lower levels of harmful substances compared to traditional cigarettes, making them a less harmful alternative for smokers—is proposed in a document published by the Center for Liberal Studies (KEFiM).
The new policy proposal for the taxation of alternative tobacco products is examined in the document signed by Panagiotis Liargovas, professor of the Department of Administrative Science and Technology at the University of the Peloponnese and president of the Centre for Planning and Economic Research (KEPE).
More specifically, KEFIM reported:
- Smoking causes 8 million deaths annually, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Taxation can be used to reduce tobacco consumption by promoting substitution with less harmful products through differentiated rates, encouraging the transition to alternative tobacco products.
- The use of e-cigarettes or heated tobacco products records 80-90% lower levels of harmful substances compared to traditional cigarettes, making them a less harmful alternative for smokers.
- A 2018 Public Health study in the United Kingdom shows that heated tobacco products are safer than traditional cigarettes.
- Formulating public policy and implementing a differentiated tax framework based on the risk level of various tobacco products is a challenge. However, it is worth attempting, as the potential of alternative tobacco products to save lives is clear and well documented.
Among the proposals put forward by KEFiM, it is emphasized that the tax framework for alternative tobacco products can be structured with reduced tax rates compared to cigarettes, in order to provide incentives for current users of these products to change their habits.
