A pack of cigarettes for 22.80 euros? Smokers’ cilia should stand on end at this idea. However, if scientists from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the German Cancer Center (DKFZ) have their way, such prices for tobacco products in Germany should be quite normal. For the sake of health.
At the end of July, the WHO presented its “Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2023”. In it, the organization presents proposals with which tobacco consumption should be restricted worldwide and smokers and non-smokers alike can be protected from the deadly consequences of tobacco consumption. In addition to risk education, offers of help for smokers and bans on tobacco advertising and sponsorship, the WHO sees higher tobacco taxes as an important step on the way to a smoke-free world.
In Germany, the tobacco tax falls under the consumption tax, which also includes taxes on alcohol, coffee and energy. The Federal Ministry of Finance put the revenue from consumption taxes in 2022 at more than 62 billion euros, with the tobacco tax contributing 14.7 billion euros.
That’s a lot compared to other drug levies. The alcohol tax for spirits brings the state 2.1 billion euros annually, the beer tax only 600 million euros and the sparkling wine tax 360 million euros. According to calculations by the DKFZ, the revenue from the tobacco tax is still far too low: smokers would cost the state 97.24 billion euros every year, the research institute calculated in the last issue of its “Tobacco Atlas” from 2020. 32 billion euros on the healthcare system, i.e. treatment, care and rehabilitation for smoke-affected people. The state makes even greater losses due to the lack of work: smokers die earlier and are more often unable to work or unemployed than non-smokers. The DKFZ estimates the cost of this loss of resources at 66.92 billion euros. If the tobacco tax were to be drastically increased, the state could use the money to refinance these expenditures. The package price for 20 pieces would have to be 22.80 euros for this.
In other countries, high taxes on tobacco products have long been established. New Zealand is the global pioneer in the fight against tobacco consumption. A pack of cigarettes costs the equivalent of a little more than 20 euros there, and some tobacco products are not allowed to be advertised. Earlier this year, the New Zealand government even enacted a law banning the purchase of tobacco products for people born after January 1, 2009. The strict smoking rules seem to be working: New Zealand’s smoking rate is one of the lowest in the world at eight percent. In Germany, on the other hand, 34.5 percent of people over the age of 14 smoked last year. Since the beginning of the corona pandemic, the number of smokers in Germany has risen sharply again.
In 2021, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, then still Minister of Finance, decided to adjust the tobacco tax. From 2022 to 2026, the tobacco tax on a pack of 20 cigarettes will increase by an average of eight cents per year. The box of 20 from the best-selling brand Marlboro currently costs 8.20 euros. Up to the price of 22.80 euros it would still take a long time.