The French Senate wants the price of cigarettes to increase by 5% per year until 2040, a proposal intended to discourage smokers.
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The French Senate’s Social Affairs Committee has published a report on how taxation can guide the French population towards healthier lifestyles.
Published last week, this report focuses on smoking, a habit linked to more than 73,000 avoidable deaths per year in France.
To combat this trend, the commission suggested increasing the price of cigarettes by 5% per year until 2040.
If inflation is 1.75%, this is equivalent to annual increase of 3.25%.
The recommended tax increase is estimated to could bring in around 14 billion euros per year to the French State.
Cigarette prices in the EU
If adopted, the Senate proposal would mean thata pack of cigarettes costing 12 euros today would cost 25 euros in 2025which would correspond more closely to the prices practiced in countries likeAustralia and the New Zealand.
The price of cigarettes, however, is already relatively high in France compared to its European neighbors.
According to the most recent WHO data, purchasing a pack of 20 cigarettes in France in 2020 cost around 8.95 eurosreferring to the cheapest brand.
If we take into account purchasing parity in the EU, this price is only exceeded in Ireland.
If we include the United Kingdom, British and Northern Irish customers pay even morewith the cheapest pack of 12 cigarettes costing around £9.30.
For premium cigarette brands, the ranking remained virtually the same. UK customers paid the highest prices, followed by Ireland and France.
Advertising bans and other campaigns
This new price increase could be the last in a series of measures taken by the French government to combat smoking.
In 2018former Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn announced a plan to gradually increase the price of a pack of cigarettes up to 10 euros.
Previously, France had put in place restrictions on smoking in public places and banned cigarette advertisements – notably through the Veil law of 1976 and the Evin law of 1991.
According to the WHO, the increase in the price of cigarettes is “the most effective and cost-effective measure to reduce smoking”.
Despite this, the proportion of smokers in France has stabilized these last years.
According to OECD figures, the proportion of daily smokers has increased from 30% in 2000 to 25.5% in 2020.
This drop of 4.5% is lower than the development observed in other countries. THE United Kingdom recorded a 12.5% reductionwhile Germany and Spain experienced respective decreases in 9.1% and 12.3%.
ADVERTISEMENTSome groups are also concerned about the effect of the price increase on cigarette smuggling.
Last year, nearly 503 tonnes of illicit tobacco were seized by the police French borders as of December 1, according to government figures.
