22:43 9 February 2021
Manufacturers of tobacco heaters enjoy unjustified excise benefits: tax experts
In Poland, only 17 percent of the popular tobacco heaters price includes taxes (VAT and excise duty), while in the case of traditional cigarettes it is 80 percent, indicate tax experts from Parulski i Wspólnicy.
In their opinion, one should follow the footsteps of most European Union countries and Great Britain, which raised excise duty rates on the so-called cigarettes for heating to a level of at least 40-60 percent of regular cigarette rates.
“It needs to be clearly explained: today the excise tax on tobacco heaters in Poland is only one-fifth of the rate charged on traditional cigarettes (PLN 1.95 vs. PLN 9.34). This means, according to the calculations of tax experts and economists so far, that the budget loses up to PLN 1.5 billion a year. That much could have been achieved if the unjustified excise privileges for tobacco heaters were to be reduced and the rate was increased to around 50 percent of traditional cigarette rates,” Szymon Parulski from Parulski i Wspólnicy said.
The second problem, pointed out by experts, is the structure of the excise duty rate on heaters itself. In Poland, the excise duty rate on innovative products is related to the rate of smoking tobacco in an unjustified way.
(PAP)
