This is the third consecutive year of decline. And this despite no increase in taxation in 2021.
For the third year in a row, cigarette sales fell. After -6.6% in 2019 and -1.3% in 2020, they fell by 6.5%, according to The echoes . That is 33.5 billion cigarettes delivered to tobacconists against 35.8 billion in 2020. And this, although there is no tax increase in 2021. A first since 2017. The last tax increase dates back to November 2020. This drop is all the more unexpected since we could have expected the French, more anxious because of the health crisis, to buy more cigarettes or to (re) start smoking.
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It was in 2017 that the government launched a program to gradually increase the price of a packet of cigarettes to 10 euros. During these 5 years, sales of cigarettes fell by 24.5%, those of roll-your-own tobacco by 17.5% and by 20% for cigars and cigarillos. The association DNF-Demain will be non-smoker pleads for a package to 15 euros by 2025 and calls for a more aggressive taxation for shisha and heated tobacco, whose sales climbed by more than 32% in 2021 and by 245 % in 5 years.
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In Social Security’s 2022 draft budget, the government recorded $ 14.2 billion in tobacco rights revenue for 2021, down $ 200 million due to the end of the price hike program and the resumption of sales. cross-border. For 2022, they would drop to 13.7 billion.