The Canary Islands is to increase tax on vapes and vaping products in its 2025 budget.
The region’s finance minister Matilde Asián made the announcement during a parliamentary committee session.
The move follows the 2024 budget, where the Canary Islands (Tenerife, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria) became the first region in Spain to impose a tax of €0.10 per millilitre on e-liquids, regardless of nicotine content.
Asián said the government is committed to protecting public health, and hopes there will soon be a mandate for similar taxation across Europe.
‘Deceptive gateways’
Melodie Mendoza of the ASG (Gomera Socialist Party) labelled vapes as "deceptive gateways to tobacco use among adolescents," saying they are often designed to resemble toys with sweet flavours.
However, vaping advocates say this view goes against a recent review of evidence published in the Harm Reduction Journal that concludes vape use does not act as a gateway to teens taking up smoking.
Mendoza said she agrees with the Ministry of Health's recent moves to regulate vapes in a similar way to traditional tobacco products, saying that vapes pose health risks such as lung-related issues.
This is despite a recent compelling study in Sweden - which has one of the world’s lowest smoking rates - showing that nicotine does not cause tobacco-related disease.
Mendoza stressed that using vapes could cause habits, especially among children, but wrongly added that there is a ‘lack of solid evidence’ supporting vapes as effective tools for quitting smoking.
She argued for the potential benefits of increasing the tax on vapes, including it having deterrent effect and additional revenue for healthcare services.
Tighter smoking and vaping regulations
In April, the Canary Islands - an autonomous community in Spain - proposed a tightening of its smoking regulations, including a ban on lighting cigarettes in the outdoor terraces of bars and restaurants.
The popular tourist destination also wants to prohibit the sale of single-use vapes that are non-biodegradable and restrict the marketing of all vapes.
The regional authority is said to be requesting firm financial planning to ensure the success of suggested measures, along with a national rule for applying anti-smoking rules uniformly throughout Spain.
There is no clear time scale for the proposals as they have yet to be agreed by the government.
The suggested rule change comes as anti-tourism sentiment is growing in the Spanish archipelagos due to strains on local infrastructures to meet tourism demands.
