If the anti-tobacco association “supports the government initiative to index the price of tobacco to inflation”, it would like to see taxation increase “on all tobacco products”.
The National Committee against Smoking (CNCT) said on Tuesday that “tax increasesto come must apply to “all productsincluding rolling tobacco and heated tobacco, and reaching at least 70 cents for a pack of cigarettes, in order to reduce consumption. Tax increases are the most effective and cost-effective tool to reduce tobacco consumption, as shown by all of the scientific literature“, writes the CNCT in a press release, in particular “with the younger generations and the most precarious categories, more sensitive to the price argument“.
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If the anti-tobacco association “supports the government initiative to index the price of tobacco to inflation“provided for in the Social Security Financing Bill (PLFSS) presented the day before in the Council of Ministers, she would like to see taxation increase”on all tobacco products“quoting”cigarettes, rolling tobacco, heated tobacco“, for “avoid consumption transfers“.
Below 70 cents per pack, price increases, given the “particularly addictive nature of tobacco” not “will only penalize the purchasing power of smokerswithout lowering consumption, estimates the CNCT. “These tax increases on tobacco products are all the more urgent as smoking has started to rise again, following the establishment of a tax moratorium, in the context of the Covid-19 epidemic, and a particularly unfavorable social situation“, he says.
The most precarious first victims
Because “the most precarious populations are the first victims of smoking“, recalls the CNCT, which judges”needed more than ever” the “resumption of a strong fiscal policy” for “achieve the goal of becoming a tobacco-free first generation by 2032“says its president, Professor Yves Martinet.
“Two million fellow citizens have quit smoking since the price of a pack of cigarettes was increased, it is a strong axis of prevention“, declared Tuesday the Minister of Health François Braun on franceinfo. “I am ready to assume that the price of tobacco follows inflation – it would be absurd for tobacco to be cheaper than other consumer products, what I do not want to assume is the 74,000 deaths per year related to tobacco“, he added, specifying that “all tobacco products will have the same tax – tobacco for heating, for rolling -, it’s logical“.
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