The European Commission considers a 258% increase in tobacco taxes. Larger excise duties for electronic cigarettes

The European Commission considers an increase in taxes by 258% for rolling tobacco and 139% for cigarettes, according to an impact assessment obtained by Politico.

Photo cigarettes: Shutterstock

The EU executive is experiencing pressure from the capitals to include new products, such as electronic cigarettes, in reviewing the tobacco excise duty, which the Wopke Hoekstra Commissioner recently said he hopes to adopt until summer.

Last year, under the leadership of the Netherlands, 16 countries addressed a letter last year to the commission stating that various national tax rates distort the unique block market, according to Politico.

Many countries have also applied for updating the Directive, which dates back to 2011, to include new products that, according to them, are particularly popular among children and young people.

Italy, Greece and Romania, however, demanded more caution.

The Commission presents three different scenarios in the document, but its preference is the highest tax increase, which would bring additional tax revenues of 15.1 billion euros.

This would increase cigarette fees from 90 euros for 1,000 units to 215 euros, while the tax on the rolling tobacco would increase from 60 euros per kilogram to 215 euros. The cigars would suffer an increase of 1,092%, from 12 euros per kilogram to 143 euros.

Electronic cigarettes with more than 15 milligrams of nicotine per milliliter would be taxed with 0.36 euros per milliliter of liquid, and those that fall below this threshold would be taxed with 0.12 euros.

Increasing taxes and tobacco prices “It has been shown to be the most effective measure to reduce total tobacco consumption”, Show in the document, but it is added that “The current minimum tax rates have lost their effectiveness regarding the effective contribution to reducing tobacco consumption.”

It is claimed that about 40 % of the decrease in smoking in the EU in the last decade can be attributed to taxation.