27/02/2024, 22:05 Budget 2023: Smokers to pay more for all tobacco products as 15% tax hike kicks

roducts as 15% tax hike kicks in | The Straits Times

THE STRAITS TIMES

Budget 2023: Smokers to pay more for all tobacco
products as 15% tax hike kicks in

Users will now have to fork out 49.1 cents for every stick of cigarette, up from the current tax of 42.7 cents per stick. PHOTO: ST FILE

Claire Huang
Business Correspondent

UPDATED MAR 07, 2023, 07:54 PM

SINGAPORE – Smokers will have to pay more for cigarettes, cigars and smokeless tobacco from
Tuesday, as the Government moves to raise such excise duties by 15 per cent.

The increase in excise duty for all tobacco products is expected to generate about $100 million in
additional revenue a year, said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong,
who delivered the Budget on Tuesday.

Users will now have to fork out 49.1 cents for every cigarette, up from the current tax of 42.7 cents
per stick.

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27/02/2024, 22:05 Budget 2023: Smokers to pay more for all tobacco products as 15% tax hike kicks in | The Straits Times

This means a 20-stick packet of Marlboro cigarettes is now expected to be sold at $15.52, up from
the previous $14, said the Ministry of Finance.
It added that the excise tax incidence on the packet of cigarettes will be around 75 per cent
before goods and services tax.

The excise tax incidence measures the excise duties levied on a pack of tobacco cigarettes as a
proportion of the total retail price.

“This is comparable to countries such as New Zealand, France and Australia,” the ministry said in
its reply to queries.

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The World Health Organisation recommends a minimum 75 per cent tax share of the retail price
of tobacco.
The duty levied on cigars will also go up to 49.1 cents per gram from the previous 42.7 cents,
while that of smokeless tobacco products will now be 37.8 cents per gram, up from 32.9 cents.
Duties for cigarettes and other manufactured tobacco were last increased by 10 per cent in 2018,
after a 10 per cent hike in 2014.

Read next - Budget 2023: What you need to know - from more cash payouts to higher property
and car taxes

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