The Spanish government is moving to impose specific taxes on nicotine vapes, closing a loophole that previously exempted them from tobacco duties. This legislative push aims to deter rising youth consumption amid stark new warnings from medical professionals regarding long-term cancer risks.
Currently, the government is working on a bill to approve a 15% global minimum tax for multinationals. According to reports from El País, lawmakers are attempting to introduce amendments to this bill that would specifically tax the nicotine found in vaping devices.
The debate over vape taxation gained traction during the 2022 tax reform. Unlike traditional cigarettes, vapes in Spain have historically avoided specific tobacco taxes, subject only to general VAT. At that time, 14 other European Union countries had already implemented specific e-cigarette taxes.
A previous proposal by the Spanish Ministry of Health sought to equalize the fiscal treatment of nicotine vapes and traditional tobacco to make the products more expensive and less accessible to young demographics.
| Product Category | Taxation Structure | Average Tax Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Nicotine Vapes (Proposed Model) | €0.15 per ml of e-liquid + €0.006 per mg of nicotine | 35.6% |
| Traditional Tobacco (Current) | 51% of retail price + €24.1 per 1,000 units | Over 51% |
- Read more: European Cigarette Taxes in 2026
The push for stricter taxation coincides with alarming health forecasts. Dr. Bartomeu Masutti, medical oncologist and scientific secretary of the Spanish Lung Cancer Group (GECP), recently warned that vaping could cause lung cancer within 15 years, mirroring the timeline of conventional tobacco.
Speaking at the TikTok GECP Awards, Dr. Masutti cautioned that if teenagers begin using e-cigarettes at age 15, they could potentially develop lung cancer between the ages of 30 and 35.
“The observation time is still short, but there is no data to say that this is not going to happen,” Dr. Masutti stated, emphasizing that current evidence strongly points toward severe long-term respiratory risks associated with vaping.
