Economy
Tobacco "wars" are not over in Hungary yet - Lázár
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János Lázár, head of the party’s parliamentary group, told a press conference on Tuesday that in view of the National Economy Ministry creating new regulations in this area will not be obstructed and the potential changes will be discussed in the autumn.
He stressed that this is a sensitive issue that needs to be handled separately from the tax policy on other luxury goods. The tobacco market needs to be sized up, he said, adding that it also needs to be checked whether Hungarians in fact spend HUF 500 billion on cigarettes annually, whether the black market for tobacco is indeed so huge; whether multinational chains sell cigarettes to underage (younger than 18) people without batting an eye; whether the bulk of the producers’ profits exit the country and whether the mammoth cigarette and tobacco manufacturers are all foreign multinational enterprises or not.
The government was to raise the excise tax on tobacco but a mysteriously and hastily submitted amendment proposal (by parliament’s constitutional committee whose members reportedly did not even have time to thumb through the two times 30-page document!) foiled those plans. According to estimates, the decision not to hike takes some HUF 22 bn out of state coffers next year.Lázár said they had “no intention to put any group in an advantageous position" at the expense of another or the entire society. “We did not want business or lobby interests show up in certain tax policy decisions," he added. Therefore Fidesz agreed with the National Economic Ministry to examine whether the related regulation could be revamped entirely, Lázár said, mentioning that in Austria, for instance, tobacco products are available only in designated tobacconists.
He stressed that this is a sensitive issue that needs to be handled separately from the tax policy on other luxury goods. The tobacco market needs to be sized up, he said, adding that it also needs to be checked whether Hungarians in fact spend HUF 500 billion on cigarettes annually, whether the black market for tobacco is indeed so huge; whether multinational chains sell cigarettes to underage (younger than 18) people without batting an eye; whether the bulk of the producers’ profits exit the country and whether the mammoth cigarette and tobacco manufacturers are all foreign multinational enterprises or not.
The government was to raise the excise tax on tobacco but a mysteriously and hastily submitted amendment proposal (by parliament’s constitutional committee whose members reportedly did not even have time to thumb through the two times 30-page document!) foiled those plans. According to estimates, the decision not to hike takes some HUF 22 bn out of state coffers next year.Lázár said they had “no intention to put any group in an advantageous position" at the expense of another or the entire society. “We did not want business or lobby interests show up in certain tax policy decisions," he added. Therefore Fidesz agreed with the National Economic Ministry to examine whether the related regulation could be revamped entirely, Lázár said, mentioning that in Austria, for instance, tobacco products are available only in designated tobacconists.
