Two years that he had not moved. The price of a pack of cigarettes “will rise like inflation”announced Elisabeth Borne, Monday, September 26, RMC and BFM-TV, before the presentation of the draft budget 2023 in the Council of Ministers. “It would be quite paradoxical for the rise in cigarettes to be lower than inflation”that would mean that “finally, relatively, the price would drop”argued the Prime Minister, noting that this situation would not be consistent “taking into account the health impact of tobacco”.
Friday, The echoes announced that the government was considering indexing the excise duty on tobacco to inflation, an increase of about 70 euro cents in the price of cigarette packs, according to a figure from the economic daily. Asked about the subject, the government spokesman, Olivier Véran, then referred to the presentation of the social security financing bill (PLFSS). “This is where the announcements will come in”he had said.
The tobacconists said to themselves on Friday “worried” the prospect of seeing tobacco taxation increase. For the president of the Confederation of tobacconists, Philippe Coy, any increase should be “very moderate, around 20 cents per year”, he told Agence France-Presse. He had demanded “a multi-annual visibility of taxation, as under the previous five-year term”allowing professionals “to steer the liner and find the right directions”.
To reduce tobacco consumption, the government has raised taxes regularly, from 2018, until reaching a price of 10 euros per pack of twenty cigarettes in November 2020. A tax freeze then took place in 2021 and 2022. In France, some 24,500 tobacconists live from the monopoly of the sale of tobacco, which generates 60% to 80% of their income, according to the Confederation of tobacconists.