The Briefing

Vaping is not displacing smoking among high school students in Aotearoa–but is recruiting new nicotine users. The proportion of young people that vape daily and that have never smoked doubled between 2019 and 2023.

The New Zealand Government has set up a Tax Working Group to consider reforms of the tax system. In this blog we briefly discuss some of the opportunities for tax reform that will potentially improve health and lower health costs, reduce health inequalities and enhance environmental sustainability.

From 1 April 2018, the UK is putting in place a type of sugary drinks tax – actually a “soft drinks industry levy”. This blog reviews how they are doing it, early signs of its success, and ponders its relevance for NZ.