Business has proposed to the Cabinet of Ministers to increase excise taxes on tobacco products by 8%, and not by 20%, as announced by the Ministry of Finance. Producers ask the government to take their calculations into account when determining a new levy. This is stated in a letter from the Council for the Development of the Tobacco Industry to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Izvestia got acquainted with the document.
According to business estimates, an 8% increase in the rate (we are talking about the solid part of the combined excise tax) is optimal for both companies and the treasury. Taking into account this increase, the state will receive a total of 630 billion rubles in revenue, the council notes.
It should be taken into account that the initiative of the Ministry of Finance will provoke an increase in illegal trade from 16 to 29%, which means that the collection of excise taxes will fall, tobacco workers believe.
Earlier, the Ministry of Finance announced that it had prepared and already sent to the government amendments to the Tax Code – the excise rate for 2021 is planned to be increased by almost 20% at once (previously it grew by 4% annually). Thus, additional funds will be obtained to fulfill the social obligations of the state: due to the difficult economic situation, budget expenditures have increased. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov explained to reporters that as a result, a pack of cigarettes worth 120 rubles will rise in price by 20 rubles.
A sharp change in the fiscal burden on the tobacco industry will give the treasury an additional 70 billion rubles in revenues, the minister noted.
The growth in rates is primarily aimed at strengthening regional budgets, believes Dmitry Belousov, head of the direction of analysis and forecasting of macroeconomic processes at TsMAKP. He believes that increasing the burden on producers of products harmful to health is the most painless option for replenishing the treasury. It will not cause a violent negative reaction from society, although the consumer will actually have to pay for the increase in excise taxes, the expert explained.
On September 16, at a government meeting, where the draft federal budget for 2021-2023 was adopted, the head of the Cabinet of Ministers Mikhail Mishustin confirmed his intention to increase tobacco excise taxes at a faster pace than inflation, but did not give exact figures.
Read more in the exclusive material of Izvestia:
Payback for smoke: business asks not to increase excise taxes on cigarettes by 20%