How Much Could Vaping Cost You After The Proposed Vape Tax?

There has been much speculation in the media about the introduction of a potential vape tax being applied in the future, but until now, we have known very little about what it might entail, or when it would happen - if at all.

In a past UK budget announcement, however, it was revealed that the Conservatives had a concept for a vape tax. The tax was set to come into effect after the pending election on January 25th 2025, should the Conservatives have won.

Despite Labour succeeding them, the vape tax is still set to come into effect in October 2026. UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivered his Spring Budget to the House of Commons on March 6 2024, laying out the Government's plans for the UK economy in the future.

Speculation was made prior to the event that a "vaping tax" would be included in this budget delivered by Mr Hunt, and the speculation was proven to be correct as a vape levy tax formed part of the Chancellor's plans for the UK in the coming years. In this blog, we will cover exactly what this vaping tax entails, as well as look at what it will mean for vapers in the future once the tax comes into effect.

Vaping Products Duty: –"The government will introduce a new duty on vaping products from 1 October 2026, with registrations for the duty opening from 1 April 2026. The rates will be £1.00 per 10ml for nicotine free liquids, £2.00 per 10ml on liquids that contain 0.1-10.9 mg nicotine per ml, and £3.00 per 10ml on liquids that contain 11mg or more per ml. A 12-week public consultation will be published on the policy design and technical details alongside the Spring Budget. The government will also introduce a one-off tobacco duty increase of £2.00 per 100 cigarettes or 50 grams of tobacco from 1 October 2026"

As we have already documented in a previous blog, Rishi Sunak announced his plans for the crackdown on vaping that would be happening the UK in an effort to bring down the youth vaping numbers. A ban on disposable vapes was the stand out of this announcement, coming into effect from 1st June 2025, effectively removing all disposable vapes from the market and subsequently from the streets.

When this was initially announced, Rishi Sunak highlighted the fact that he and his Government would be introducing further regulations to the vaping industry in an effort to making vaping less accessible to children by restricting vape flavours, as well as introducing a taxation on vaping products, which the latter has now come to light and will be coming into effect within the next 12 months.

With the announcement of a vape tax coming, the above may be a question that you're asking yourself, so we want to break down just exactly how much vaping could cost you once these changes come into effect. We've taken some of the best UK vape juice brands to compare their prices with ours as referenced below:

Here at LiQuid, we are determined to make vaping as affordable as possible, which is reflected in our prices of our premium quality UK made vape juice which starts at only £1 per 10ml. And even with the new price increases coming in, we will continue to be the cheapest brand of vape juice available in the UK.

With the proposed price increases of the new vaping tax affecting different nicotine strength vape liquids, this could be used as an incentive for people to consider lowering their nicotine strengths down before the price increase comes into effect.

E-Cigarettes are designed to aid people in quitting smoking, and when you first quit smoking and start vaping, you'll want to use a vape juice with the appropriate nicotine strength that correlates to how many cigarettes a day you previously smoked. Then gradually over time, you can begin lowering that nicotine strength in your vape juice as your dependency for nicotine will begin to taper down.

Some people tend to stick to the same nicotine strength vape juice, but with these price increases more affecting high strength nicotine vape juice, this could act as somewhat of an incentive to begin using lower strength vape liquids as this will ultimately be more cost effective in the long run.

As we mentioned earlier, a disposable vape ban is now in place, so if your main nicotine intake is through disposables, you'll want to consider trying a refillable vape kit.

We've previously covered this in detail in another blog regarding what will happen when disposable vapes are banned, and we explained that switching to a refillable vape kit with Bar Salt vape juice is the most future-proof option if you were previously a disposable vape user.

When it comes to the new tax being put onto vape juice, this is not happening until October 2026. Meaning you've got plenty of time to prepare yourself to be ahead of this new potential price hike. E-Liquids normally have a shelf life of 2 years from date of production, meaning you can stock up on your favourite vape juices before the price changes come into effect, and ensure you've got plenty in store and they will not spoil in the time it takes you to vape them.

If you're a high-nicotine-strength vape juice user, you've got plenty of time to start considering and working on lowering the nicotine strength of your vape juice as well, as we discussed above. And if you are successful in lowering down your nicotine strengths, you will then be paying less for your vape juice!