Poles smoking more but drinking less, according to Treasury figures

The Ministry of Finance has announced that income from indirect taxes in the first half of this year reached zl. 43.65 billion - 11.9% more than the zl. 38.99 billion during the same period last year. According to Rzeczpospolita, this is mainly due to higher revenues from VAT and excise taxes. From VAT the state earned 13.9% more compare to last year. The results were similar with regard to excise tax, where revenues increased by 8.5%. This year's greatest increases were seen in the revenues from cigarettes (up 12.6%) and wines (up 20.7%). Philip Morris Polska SA revealed that in the first six months of last year, 35.1 billion cigarettes were sold, as compared to 36.2 billion in the first half of this year. At the same time, the excise from spirits decreased. To the end of June, the budget received about zl. 2.1 billion from excise on spirits whereas last year for the same period, the figure was over zl. 2.85 billion. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, B2) A.L