Two years he hadn’t moved. The price of a pack of cigarettes. “it will rise like inflation”announced Elisabeth Borne, Monday, September 26, RMC and BFM-TV, before the presentation of the 2023 budget project in the Council of Ministers. “It would be quite paradoxical if the rise in cigarettes was lower than inflation”that would mean that “finally, relatively, the price would go down”argued the Prime Minister, pointing out that this situation would not be consistent “taking into account the impact of tobacco on health”.
Friday, the echoes announced that the government was considering indexing the excise tax on tobacco to inflation, an increase of around 70 euro cents in the price of cigarette packs, according to data from the economic newspaper. Asked about the issue, the government spokesman, Olivier Véran, then referred to the presentation of the social security financing bill (PLFSS). “This is where the ads will come in”he said.
The tobacconists said Friday “concerned” the possibility of tobacco taxes being increased. For the president of the Confederation of tobacconists, Philippe Coy, any increase should be “very moderate, about 20 cents a year”he told Agence France-Presse. he had demanded “A multi-year visibility of taxation, as in the previous five-year period”allowing professionals “to steer the ocean liner and find the right directions”.
To reduce tobacco consumption, the government has raised taxes periodically, since 2018, reaching a price of 10 euros per pack of twenty cigarettes in November 2020. Then there was a tax freeze in 2021 and 2022. In France, Some 24,500 tobacconists live off the monopoly of tobacco sales, which generates between 60% and 80% of their income, according to the Confederation of tobacconists.