The EU plans to significantly increase taxes on tobacco products and expand excise duty on e-cigarettes
In the European Union, they are planning a significant increase in taxes on tobacco products and the expansion of excise taxation on electronic cigarettes. About this informsPolitician.
The European Commission proposes to increase excise taxes on cigarettes by 139% — from the current 90 euros to 215 euros per thousand. For rolling tobacco, the increase will be even more significant — by 258%, from €60 to €215 per kilogram. The biggest tax increase — by 1,090% — is proposed for cigars: from 12 euros to 143 euros per thousand pieces or per kilogram. Separately, it is proposed to set a tax of 143 euros per kilogram for nicotine sachets, and electronic cigarettes will be taxed depending on the nicotine content.
Even last year, 16 EU countries, led by the Netherlands, addressed the European Commission with a letter in which they emphasized that different national tax rates distort the EU’s single market. Several countries have also called for an update of the Tobacco Excise Directive (TED), which was adopted back in 2011, to include new products popular with children and young people.
The commission is currently considering three options for changes, but prefers the scenario of the maximum tax increase, which will allow to attract an additional 15.1 billion euros to the budget. The document also notes that approximately 40% of the reduction in smoking rates in the EU over the past ten years is due to tax policy.
We will remind you that in March 2025, the law on increasing excise duties on tobacco products entered into force in Ukraine. It provides for a gradual increase of excise tax rates on cigarettes over four years to the minimum level determined by Directive 2011/64/EU, in accordance with Ukraine’s European integration obligations.
