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International Conference and Cigarettes Tax Hike, European Government Decision

Monday, February 20th, 2012

tax free hilton cigaretteAn important international meeting take place in Dublin today calling on European governments to set even higher taxes on all smoking products. Presented by the Irish Heart Foundation and the Irish Cancer Society, the European Smoke Free Partnership is urging for cigarettes taxes to be used as the “main weapon” in decreasing smoking rates.

The TobTaxy workshop intends to collect a “powerful anti-smoking group of NGOs and senior public employed” to support for such big taxes which its adherents believe will limit the inhabitants death caused by smoking habit.

International attest proves that tobacco tax hikes are the most effective and new method of reducing cigarettes smoking rates, declared Michael O’Shea, main chief of the Irish Heart Foundation.

The charity’s own research showed that a €1 increase in tax on a 20-package of cigs could result in about 30,000 people quitting smoking tobacco in Ireland.

Irish Cancer Society CEO John McCormack also explained that it is critical tobacco tax is seen essentially as a public health outlet.

The main link between tax hikes and smuggling cigarettes rates, which is spread by the cigarette makers, will also be debated throughout the conference.

Both the Irish Cancer Society and Irish Health Foundation believe the link to be flimsy or even false.

“We really need to increase the tobacco tax and if the tobacco industry thinks that this new law will increase black cigarettes market sales then they can any moment reduce their income margin to keep smokes price lower,” reported McCormack.

 

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Crisis Is Efficient for Cigarette Smugglers

Friday, February 17th, 2012

cheapest hilton cigaretteLike a lot of Spaniards, Alicia García has been obliged to make big sacrifices because of the country’s crisis. The 32-year-old cosmetician started to smoke only a pack of cigarettes per day, but now she smokes only five cigs.

“Unfortunately smoking habit has become too expensive for me. Now I should think twice before I decide to light my cigarette,” declared García.

Because of higher and excessive taxes, Spain’s 10 millions smokers become fully target to cigarettes smugglers. Unlawful tobacco imports now account for 7 percent to 8 percent of cigarette and tobacco sales, in comparison with almost zero a year ago. The number of cigarette packages sold in Spain drop to  17 percent last year, declared the Tobacco Market Commission.

“Smuggling and illegal tobacco products, which had been extirpated since 1993, came back heavily last year,” reported Jaime Gil-Robles, corporate affairs director at Altadis, which has one-third of the €11.3 billion ($14.8 billion) Spanish tobacco market. Only in one week Spanish authorities grasped more than 1 million illicit packages of cigs.

The smuggling problem is not limited to Spain only. French authorities also seized 462 tons of contraband tobacco products last year, a 33 per cent increase from 2010. Much of that load was bound in the U.K. and Ireland, which have the highest cigarettes taxes in the European Union. For example in Dublin, a package of Marlboro cigs cost €9.10, compared with €6.20 in Paris.

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Electronic Cigarettes Sales to Minors, Hawaii News

Monday, February 13th, 2012

karelia cigarettes onlineThe Hawaii state legislature is debating a bill that would ban the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors and impose the 70% tobacco tax on the devices, according to a report by the Hawaii Reporter.

All of the testimony favored a ban on sale of the products to minors, but more than 1,000 individuals and companies protested imposition of the tobacco tax on e-cigarettes, the report said.

State Health Department director Loretta Fuddy told members of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, “There is very little known about the long-term health effects of the use of e-cigarettes or the vapors given off. Recent studies have shown that within one liquid nicotine cartridge there is enough nicotine to cause serious illness or even death.”

Cory Smith, president of local retailer Volcano Fine Electronic Cigarettes, said the product actually helps tobacco smokers quit their habits and produces none of the second-hand smoke issues associated with traditional tobacco cigarettes.

“The tobacco tax is aimed at deterring tobacco use and generating revenue to pay for health care costs associated with tobacco-related harms,” Smith testified. “Since the research thus far indicates that e-cigarettes show promise as a means to deter tobacco use and thereby reduce the cost of tobacco-related harms, it makes no sense to subject e-cigarettes to the tobacco tax.”

Taxing e-cigarettes at the 70% tobacco rate would shut down his business and drive customers to the internet to obtain the devices from out-of-state sources, he added.

“The general cost of a fully functioning electronic cigarette kit is upwards of $70,” Smith testified. “Levying a 70% tax on all of these items would virtually guarantee that purchasers will go out of state, or, worse yet, return to tobacco cigarettes.”

Fuddy said more scientific study must be undertaken of e-cigarettes. “We don’t feel that from a Department of Health perspective that the science is really in yet. This is a rather new product,” she said.

Also testifying in favor of the measure were the state Tax Department, the Honolulu Police Department and various health organizations including the American Cancer Society and the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii, said the report.

Coalition executive director Deborah Zsyman told the committee that some sales of e-cigarettes appear aimed at underaged customers.

“Often the cartridges are candy flavored, making them enticing to youth. Currently, they are readily available at mall kiosks and small shops throughout our state and are priced as low as $10 for the disposable varieties,” said Zsyman.

The coalition’s concerns about e-cigarettes center on sales to minors and on the lack of scientific evidence on the health effects of the devices, the report said.

“I think if we find there’s evidence that this is really a product that is safe and does help people quit smoking, then, yes, we’d be supportive of it,” Zsyman testified.

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California New Tax On Smokes

Friday, February 10th, 2012

tax free winston cigarettesThe study found that the new tax would have a significant effect on the state’s overall economy because Californians would smoke less and spend their money in other ways.

The initiative, the California Cancer Research Act (CCRA), is on the statewide June 5 ballot. If the measure is approved, state cigarette taxes would rise by $1 a pack, generating an estimated $855 million a year for anti-smoking education programs, medical research, and tobacco law enforcement.

“The primary impact to the California economy, besides the effect on health care, is that people will smoke less and send less money out of state,” said study author Stanton A. Glantz, PhD, a professor of medicine at UCSF and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education based at UCSF.

Currently, approximately 80 percent of money spent on tobacco products is exported to out-of-state tobacco manufacturers and farmers. No tobacco is grown in California and no cigarettes are manufactured here.

Under the legislation, 60 percent of funds generated by the new tax would go to cancer research and to address other tobacco-related diseases, 20 percent toward tobacco cessation and prevention programs, and 15 percent toward facilities and equipment for health services and research. The remainder would go to law enforcement to reduce cigarette smuggling and tobacco tax evasion, and to administer the tax.
The state’s independent Legislative Analysts’ Office has calculated that the new tax could save more than 100,000 people from smoking-related deaths.

On September 15, 2011, the UC Board of Regents endorsed the initiative. UC campuses are allowed to use their resources to objectively evaluate a ballot measure’s impact and to provide educational materials and information.

Glantz’ report of the analysis, which estimates both the direct and indirect effects of the initiative on employment and economic activity in California, uses standard estimates of jobs created and economic multipliers categorized by economic sector from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

If the new tax is approved, the study reports, it would cause some loss of retail jobs due to fewer retail sales — a loss that would be more than offset by a projected 12,000 new jobs in the California economy as a whole as well as in medical research, construction and other activities directly funded by the CCRA.
Altogether, the CCRA would generate a projected $1.9 billion in total economic activity.

A previous UCSF study co-authored by Glantz and James Lightwood, PhD, associate adjunct professor in the UCSF School of Pharmacy, estimated the ballot measure could save California up to $32 billion in health care costs over the next five years. Without the tax, the study concluded, the state’s tobacco control program would become less effective over time because inflation is eroding the five cents per pack currently allocated to tobacco control activities.

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Tobacco Sales Amount New Record

Thursday, February 9th, 2012

cheapest chesterfield cigarettesDespite this year’s poor tobacco prices that have contributed to the country’s worsening economic woes, the market season has registered the largest tobacco volumes sold than ever, the Tobacco Control Commission (TCC) has said.

As of last week, the market had sold just over 235 million kilogrammes of both burley and flu-cured tobacco, beating the 2009 record of 232 million at the end of that year’s market season.

“We have sold more tobacco than ever but our objective is to match the leaf sales with proceeds because you can note that despite selling more tobacco we have had very poor prices,” said TCC Chief Executive Officer Bruce Munthali in an interview.

A presidential directive was issued last month that all tobacco brought to the auction floors this year should be bought either by the buyers or the government.

About US$291 million has been realised from the sales of tobacco and cheapest Chesterfield cigarettes through the auction floors this year, compared to US$410 million realised from sales of the leaf last year.

Tama president Robert Maigwa was quoted on ZBS bemoaning this year’s sales which he said are the worst in recent years and have affected farmers’ incomes considerably.

He said the country should expect low tobacco volumes next year as most of the disappointed farmers have kept away from planting tobacco this growing season.

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Tobacco Farmers Against New Cigarettes Tax

Thursday, February 9th, 2012

best quality camel cigarettesThousands Virginia tobacco farmers and provincial officials aired their protest against a proposed bill seeking to restructure the excise tax collected from alcohol and tobacco through an indignation rally on Tuesday.

Tobacco farmer leader Benjamin Sarmiento said House Bill 5727, authored by Representative Joseph Emilio A. Abaya (1st district, Cavite) seeking to restructure the excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco products, is not favorable to the tobacco industry.

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The tax bill was tagged as a priority by the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council.

“If the bill will be passed and be approved, the tax for locally made high quality cigarette will be increased from P12.00 per pack to P30 per pack until 2014 while the premium imported cigarettes would only increase from P28.30 per pack to P30.00 per pack in which the importers are greatly benefited unto this bill considering that only 40 percent from the total volume of cigarette produced in the country are high quality and the remaining 60 percent are low quality,” he explained.

“Thus, if this bill will be approved why I could buy locally produced cigarettes if it has the same price with the imported cigarettes; then, the saddest part is that; the market and demand of our low quality tobacco will probably be decreased and eventually this might lead to the death of our local tobacco industry,” he added.

Sarmiento led at least 5,000 Virginia tobacco farmers from Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte in a rally in front of the Provincial Capitol of Ilocos Sur asking President Benigno Noynoy Aquino III to disapprove the proposed law as it is detrimental to the tobacco industry.

“We are also appealing to Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, our province-mates, to take further study into the impact of the HB 5727,” Sarmiento added.

Meanwhile, provincial officials lead by Vice Governor Deogracias Victor B. Savellano expressed their strong opposition to HB 5727 which contains the Department of Finance (DOF) proposal for a unitary excise tax system.

“We do not agree and cannot accept HB5727 of Representative Abaya, which is being pushed by Secretaries Butch Abad and Finance Secretary Purisima. HB 5727 will destroy the tobacco industry and kill the livelihood of our people,” the local officials said in their letter forwarded to Davao Representative Isidro Ungab, chairman of the House committee on ways and means.

However, the local officials passed a resolution in support to the current excise tax structure on alcohol and tobacco products, saying it allows these sectors to grow while generating a more stable and predictable revenue for government.

The resolution expressed the unequivocal support of the local officials for the sub-committee Report No. 6 of Ilocos Sur Representative Eric G. Singson Jr., which responds to the government’s call for additional revenues without sacrificing the livelihood of some nine million people, engaged in the alcohol and tobacco industries.

Under the approved subcommittee report, increases of the tax rates ranging from four to 10 percent will be imposed on the four tax tiers over five years with the lowest tier absorbing 10 percent. The increase will be done every other year over the five-year period.

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Philip Morris Profits Up Thanks to Cigarette High Prices

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

buy camel cigarettesPhilip Morris International Inc., the world’s largest publicly traded tobacco company, reported third-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates, helped by higher shipments and increased cigarette prices in Asia.

Net income rose 30 percent to $2.38 billion, or $1.35 a share, from $1.82 billion, or 99 cents, a year earlier, the New York-based maker of Marlboro cigarettes said in a statement. Excluding some items, profit was $1.37 a share, beating the $1.24 average of 14 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Chief Executive Officer Louis Camilleri raised prices in Japan, Australia and Indonesia, where demand pushed total shipments higher by 4.4 percent. Excluding excise taxes, total sales at Philip Morris, which generates all of its revenue outside the U.S., advanced 26 percent to $8.36 billion.

“Aided by Asia and the emerging markets, shipments were good, and they’re not having any problem getting price increases,” Jack Russo, an analyst at Edward Jones & Co. in St. Louis, said today in an interview. He rates the shares as “buy.” “They blew by the consensus pretty easily.”

The company raised the low end of its 2011 profit forecast by 5 cents to $4.75 a share, and left unchanged the high end of $4.80. Analysts projected $4.74, the average of 16 estimates.

Philip Morris rose 3.3 percent to $68.19 at 4 p.m. in New York. The shares have climbed 17 percent this year.

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Lorillard Inc., the third-largest U.S. cigarette maker, is scheduled to release its results on Oct. 24, followed by Reynolds American Inc., the second-biggest, on Oct. 25 and Altria Group Inc., the largest, on Oct. 27.

Philip Morris is the second most profitable company in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, after Linear Technology Corp., according to earnings rankings compiled by Bloomberg through Oct. 18. The analysis gave equal weight to five variables, including profit margin and return on invested capital. Lorillard, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, ranked 10th.

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