Details of the Government's newly-announced vaping crackdown may keep New Zealanders smoking and paying exorbitant excise taxes, says the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union.

Taxpayers' Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, "We welcome the decision not to apply excise tax to vaping products. But the details of this regulation will prevent many smokers from making the switch and reaping the financial rewards."

"Especially concerning is the crackdown on displays and flavoured liquids at service stations and supermarkets. When a smoker walks into a dairy to buy their daily pack of smokes, this is precisely when they should be able to see other options. That should include flavoured liquids."

"Advertising restrictions should include an exemption for communicating the fact that vaping is at least 95 per cent less harmful than smoking."

"The select committee process for this bill will be crucial for ex-smokers to share stories of how flavoured vapes and point-of-sale displays got them off the smokes."

"Regulation should be laser-focused at preventing children from accessing nicotine. As the bill is currently written, it errs too far on the side of protecting the government's revenue stream from current smokers."

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On The Skewed Media Coverage Of Gaza

Now that he’s back as Foreign Minister, maybe Winston Peters should start reading the MFAT website which is currently celebrating the 25th anniversary of how Kiwis alerted the rest of the world to the genocide in Rwanda. How times have changed ...

In 2023, the government is clutching its pearls because senior Labour MP Damien O’Connor has dared suggest that Gaza’s civilian population are also victims of what amounts to genocide... More

Scoop Post Election Podcast: River Of Freedom Review

After reviewing River of Freedom, a documentary about the Wellington parliamentary protest of 2022, the Scoop Political Podcast went into hibernation. Watched by potentially tens of thousands of voters in the weeks prior to Election 23, it was unlikely to have won any votes for Labour. With a new coalition Government now formed, it’s time to look at the impact it had... More