BULGARIA: Prices of cigarettes to go up through 2017 | Progresiv
Bulgaria will return to a higher time table for the excise tax on cigarettes in a gradual manner by the beginning of 2018, Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov has said. Earlier, some media outlets reported that changes to the excise were being prepared to meet EU requirements. 
However, one of the reasons for the step is the "aggressive behavior" shown by some of the traders in tobacco products threatening the entire market, daily 24 Chasa quotes Goranov as telling journalists.
This will result in a "sustainable" increase in prices of cigarettes by January 01, 2018.
The date mentioned is when Bulgaria will be obliged to introduce the minimum EU excise tax on cigarettes, which is 90 euros per 1000 pieces (a goal that is also fulfilled if the current timetable is kept in force).
This means prices will go up again as of January 01, 2018, Goranov has warned. More expensive cigarette brands will be affected by 0.15 leva (0.07 euros), while for a pack of more affordable ones the increase will be around 0.10 leva. The overall increase in the sale price would be around 0.20-30 leva by the end of 2017.
The current tax is 70 leva per 100 pieces (the "specific excise"), plus 38% of the sale price (the so-called "ad valorem excise duty"), but its minimum total value is 161 leva per 1000 pcs (82.2 euros).
The legislation currently in force foresees a rise through 2017 measured at 70 leva plus 40% of the sale price, with a minimum total price of 167 leva per 100 pcs. In 2018, the respective increase would have set the excise tax at 70 leva per 1000 pcs with 42% of the sale price and a minimum total value of 177 leva (90.3 euros).
A new timetable for the increase, if adopted, would see a more abrupt increase in the specific tax (101 leva per 1000 pcs as of January 2017) and a lower ad valorem excise duty (27% as of the same time), with a minimum threshold of 168 leva.From 2018, the proposed increase would set the tax at 101 euros per 1000 pcs + 28% of the sale price, with a minimum threshold of 177 euros.
The "new timetable" was renounced last year in favour of the current one, with critics of the move then arguing it would give an edge to two local cigarette producers. They also insisted EU practices suggested the specific tax - and not the ad valorem duty - should be increased when modifying the excise to base state revenues on the amount of cigarettes sold and not on their market price. (www.novinite.com)
