KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 – The Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control (MCTC) has called the government’s move to remove liquid nicotine from the Poisons List for tax collection “irrational”, especially as revenue from e-liquid tax is limited.
In an October 19 affidavit to the High Court, MCTC pointed out that the 40 sen per ml excise duty on electronic cigarette and vape liquids with nicotine, applicable to just 10 manufacturers, pales in comparison to the excise duty on traditional cigarettes, which has not changed since 2017.
“It is irrational for the first respondent (Dr Zaliha Mustafa) to decide to exclude liquid or gel nicotine from the First Schedule of the Poisons Act 1952 to establish an excise duty much lower than the excise duty on conventional cigarettes when there has been no increase in the excise duty rate on conventional cigarettes since 2017,” MCTC said, represented by its secretary general Muhammad Sha’ani Abdullah.
The anti-tobacco group highlighted that reports submitted by Malaysia under the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control showed that raising taxes on tobacco did not really make people smoke less.
In 2010, premium cigarettes cost RM10 per pack, with tax imposed on consumers making up 48.8 per cent of the retail price. By 2020, the retail price for premium cigarettes in Malaysia increased to RM17.50 per pack, with taxes accounting for 74 per cent of the retail price.
Despite a 75 per cent increase in the retail price of premium cigarettes during that period, the overall percentage of current smokers from 2010 to 2020 continued to rise from 22.1 per cent to 27.8 per cent.
MCTC also cited the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2022 data that showed an increase in the number of teens who use electronic cigarettes or vape from 9.8 per cent in 2017 to 14.9 per cent in 2022.
MCTC said Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa acknowledged this in a written parliamentary reply on June 6, where she stated: “The provision for the tobacco generation end game (GEG) is a pressing necessity, given the significant increase in smoking rate, including e-cigarettes or vape, since they entered the Malaysian market in 2015. This increase is particularly pronounced among teenagers, who, on average, constitute new users”.
Therefore, MCTC argued that Dr Zaliha’s justification for imposing excise duties as an effective measure to reduce cigarette, e-cigarette, or vape product consumption is considered “irrational, unreasonable, and legally incorrect”.
