The European Parliament approved the increase of taxation on cigarettes and tobacco products (from €90 to approximately €215 per 1000 cigarettes), which will bring big increases.
It will affect mainly countries such as Greece that today have some of the lowest taxation in the EU on tobacco products, remaining slightly above the minimum threshold. Apart from Greece, similar taxation has Cyprus, Hungary, Bulgaria. On the contrary, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Finland already exceed the new minimum taxation limits.
Thus, Greece will have to increase the tax by 80%+ in order to comply with the new minimum limits and, if tobacco companies do not absorb part of the increase, the pack of 20 cigarettes from €4.80 will go to €6.50.
Denmark, Ireland, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Finland already exceed the new minimum taxation limits.
As emerges from a study of the European Parliament, these increases are not treated as a problem, but the need for even higher taxation on new products, such as heated cigarettes, is emphasized.
The study concludes, among other things, that the delay of the implementation would reduce both the health benefits and the fiscal benefits.
However, the counter-argument, which has also been expressed by the Minister of Finance, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, is that increases in cigarette taxes favor smuggling.
Πηγή: iefimerida, News247
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