Tobacco tax increase: Smoking is becoming more expensive

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A cigarette shelf (symbol picture): Smoking also endangers your wallet

Photo: Michael Gstettenbauer / imago images

The planned reform of the tobacco tax has made significant progress.

The Bundestag Finance Committee voted for a change in the law that would increase the tobacco tax on a pack of cigarettes by an average of 10 cents in 2022.

Another 10-cent jump will follow in 2023, with an increase of 15 cents in each of the years 2025 and 2026.

The responsible SPD reporter Michael Schrodi was satisfied after the vote.

"If you want to get people away from smoking, which is harmful to health, clear price signals are necessary - we are setting them now," said the SPD politician.

Compared to "new" products, however, the increase in carcinogenic cigarettes remains moderate.

With e-cigarettes, tobacco heaters and shisha tobacco, the control screw is turned a lot harder.

A special tax is levied for the heaters that are fiscally only classified as pipe tobacco in order to tax them at the same rate as tobacco cigarettes.

According to calculations by the tobacco company "Philip Morris", this increases the tax burden by almost four times.

The last tobacco tax increase was in 2015. Reform critics consider the tax increase to be too weak.

According to Monika Schaller from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), at least 10 percent are necessary to persuade smokers to quit or not to even start.

Around every fourth adult in Germany still regularly uses a cigarette despite the high risk of cancer.

nek / dpa