[Oireachtas] Dail Eireann debate. Financial resolutions 2017: Financial resolution no. 1: Tobacco products tax.. (11 Oct 2016)
External website: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2...
The Taoiseach: I move the following Financial Resolution:
(1) THAT for the purposes of the tax charged by virtue of section 72 of the Finance Act 2005 (No. 5 of 2005), that Act be amended, with effect as on and from 12 October 2016, by substituting the following for Schedule 2 to that Act (as amended by section 45 of the Finance Act 2015 (No. 52 of 2015)):
“SCHEDULE 2
RATES OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS TAX (With effect as on and from 12 October 2016)
Description of Product |
Rate of Tax |
Cigarettes |
Rate of tax at- (a) except where paragraph (b) applies, €288.22 per thousand together with an amount equal to 9.52 per cent of the price at which the cigarettes are sold by retail, or (b) €325.11 per thousand in respect of cigarettes sold by retail where the rate of tax would be less than that rate had the rate been calculated in accordance with paragraph (a). |
Cigars |
Rate of tax at €335.368 per kilogram. |
Other smoking tobacco |
Rate of tax at €310.189 per kilogram. Rate of tax at €232.664 per kilogram. |
".
(2) IT is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution shall have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1927 (No. 7 of 1927).
Financial Resolution No. 1 provides for excise duty increases on tobacco products with effect from midnight tonight. The increase amounts to 50 cent, inclusive of VAT, on a pack of 20 cigarettes in the most popular price category, together with pro-rata increases for other tobacco products. The price of a pack of cigarettes in the most popular category, assuming the increase is passed through to the final retail price, will increase to €11. The excise duty component of this price will be €6.81 and the total tax inclusive of VAT will be €8.87, which represents nearly 80.6% of the price of a pack.
Ireland is committed to a policy of high taxation of tobacco in order to encourage people to quit smoking, particularly younger people. The policy is working. In 2007, 24% of our people were daily smokers but today Department of Health figures show that the figure has fallen to 19%. Furthermore, the quantity of cigarettes consumed per smoker has also fallen in the period. Increasing tobacco products taxation is a key public health policy measure to continue this downward trend in smoking rates in Ireland and to help us to achieve a tobacco-free Ireland by 2025.
In terms of revenue raising, the increase in excise duty on tobacco products will contribute €5.7 million to the Exchequer in 2016 and €65.2 million in a full year.
[Click this link for full debate]
Repository Staff Only: item control page