Creation of a new tax on vaping: 4 million citizens targeted by an unfair measure

According to the business daily LES ÉCHOS, a draft budget inherited from the Bayrou government envisages the creation of a new tax on vaping. FIVAPE firmly denounces this measure as unfair for 4 million users and counter-productive for 15 million smokers.

New Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has yet to form his government. As a result, the latter will have to work urgently on the 2026 finance bills (PLF and PLFSS), deadline: October 13. Exclusive revelation by LES ÉCHOS ¹ of a new tax project on vaping initiated by the Bayrou government to find new sources of revenue, we are deeply concerned that the measure could be adopted in extenso to gain time, obliging us, as last year²to fight against a health heresy. Taxing vape is unfair, anti-social and pro-tobacco.

"A tax on vape is a promotion of smoking and nothing else, you don't balance a nation's books by killing its citizens" - AIDUCE

The Association Indépendante des Utilisateurs de Cigarette Électronique doesn't mince its words. On its social networks, it continues: "+2 million ex-smokers in France and the historic drop in smoking among high school students... sorry if that's driving down fag sales."

The FÉDÉRATION ADDICTION, more diplomatic but just as firm on the substance, also reacts:

"Already considered last year, this tax remains a bad idea: in the field, our members, professionals in addictology, see daily the usefulness of vaping as a risk-reduction and weaning tool for smokers wishing to quit.
Vaping has the advantage of enabling nicotine consumption without exposing oneself to the risks of combustion, which is the main culprit in smoking-related respiratory, cardiac and cancer disorders. Recent studies confirm the contribution of vaping to smoking cessation.
We fear that a tax, particularly for smokers from the most precarious socio-economic categories - among whom the smoking rate remains particularly high - will discourage the use of vaping, and indeed, smoking cessation."

Taxing vape means taxing smoking cessation

Effective and popular, vaping is the No. 1 smoking cessation aid in France and around the world. Science has spoken: twice as effective as nicotine substitutes³and even three times more effective for the most disadvantaged, as shown by a recent Australian study⁴.

France has over 30% of smokers: 17% of the most affluent smoke every day, and over 35% of the least affluent! Vapor is already taxed at 20% by VAT. Curbing the growth and access to vaping with additional taxes is an anti-social measure. Alongside health, economic pressure, which is currently a source of great tension among the population, is the main motivation behind attempts to quit smoking.

4 million people, ex-smokers or those in the process of quitting, are affected by this measure, which is unfair to them and to the general public, given the cost to public health of the scourge of smoking.

An injustice within an injustice, the plan revealed by LES ÉCHOS would introduce a double trigger system: 3 centimes per millilitre for nicotine levels up to 15 mg/ml, then 5 centimes above that. Yet it's the higher nicotine levels that are most effective and helpful, particularly in the early stages of weaning.

Vapor tax: a pro-tobacco measure

The logistical and administrative implementation of this tax could cost more than it brings in. While Europe initiated work this summer on a tax project, if this were to happen, everything would have to be redone on new terms.

This is a double whammy for independent vape companies, as their products will cost more and production costs will be increased by formalities. Thousands of local jobs are threatened in trade and industry.

It's time for the public authorities to realize that vape professionals are not killing anyone. On the contrary, they have a positive impact on society, and a major impact on the lives of the customers who place their trust in them. Every day, they help millions of French people quit smoking, with undeniable success.

France is one of the countries hardest hit by smoking in Europe. It must reject any tax or hindrance to the effectiveness of vaping(flavors, nicotine), and our representatives should urgently take up the TED dossier at the European level to defend the main tool in the fight against smoking in our country.

The criminal tobacco industry, the only one that sells cigarettes, plays a sophisticated game to confuse and confound vaping and nicotine. It discredits harm reduction by slyly asserting its values - while causing 75,000 deaths a year with impunity! By multiplying provocations, it stirs up⁵It blows on the embers to create a moral panic among young people, a dystopia of a "gateway effect", insane but plausible for those unfamiliar with the subject, yet once again irrefutably contradicted by the latest OFDT publication: smoking among young people is plummeting, divided by 5 in 10 years!⁶

If a tax other than VAT were to be applied to e-liquids, vape would become a product category under the control of the Ministry of Finance, a vulgar tax revenue like tobacco. The No. 1 smoking cessation aid would then escape the control of the Ministry of Health. An unprecedented act of cynicism, and a clear gift to the tobacco industry.

The professionals who join FIVAPE to stand up to the tobacco industry want to be able to collaborate with public authorities in a constructive and responsible spirit. If measures are needed to improve prevention for young people, in addition to the ethical obligation to tell the truth about the risks, they must not sacrifice the chances of 15 million smokers or penalize 4 million users with taxes.

FIVAPE calls on the new government not to include a tax on e-liquids in the 2026 Finance Bill and to change the paradigm on vaping which, in responsibility, could have an even more massive and rapid impact on the fight against smoking in France, with support rather than hindrance and mistrust.

1. EXCLUSIVE - Taxes, savings: these surprise measures left by Bayrou to Lecornu in the 2026 budget - https://www.lesechos.fr/economie-france/budget-fiscalite/exclusif-impots-economies-ces-mesures-surprises-laissees-par-bayrou-a-lecornu-dans-le-budget-2026-2186070 ︎
2. Tax on vaping: 38% price increase! A tax against smoking cessation wanted by the tobacco industry. - https://fivape.org/taxe-sur-le-vapotage-38-daugmentation-des-prix-une-taxe-contre-larret-du-tabac-voulue-par-lindustrie-du-tabac/ ︎
3. Can electronic cigarettes help people quit smoking, and do they have any adverse effects when used for this purpose? - https://www.cochrane.org/fr/evidence/CD010216_can-electronic-cigarettes-help-people-stop-smoking-and-do-they-have-any-unwanted-effects-when-used ︎
4. Vaporized Nicotine Products for Smoking Cessation Among People Experiencing Social Disadvantage: A Randomized Clinical Trial - https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/ANNALS-24-03531 ︎
5. L'ACT BÂCHE BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO - https://alliancecontreletabac.org/2025/01/22/lact-bache-british-american-tobacco/ ︎
6. Drug use in Europe at age 16 - ESPAD 2024 results - https://www.ofdt.fr/publication/2025/les-usages-de-drogues-en-europe-16-ans-resultats-espad-2024-2608 ︎