RA Government Fights Smoking by Raising Price of Cigarettes

Today the government of Armenia approved making amendments and additions to the RA Law on Excise Tax and the bills to revoke outdated RA Laws on Fixed Charges for Tobacco Products and Fixed Charges for Petrol and Diesel.

The adoption of these bills expects a transition to a fairer tax system on tobacco products, as well as gasoline and diesel fuel, to ensure the obligation Armenia has undertaken before the World Trade Organization, and to improve the level of income tax into the state budget from the tobacco products sector, according to a release issued by the RA Government information and public relations department. 

This issue, said Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, has been discussed for a long time with importers and producers of tobacco products.

During the session, the Armenian PM noted that in Armenia, cigarettes are quite cheap and accessible to everyone, but that also diseases caused by tobacco use are widespread.

“Therefore, prices should gradually increase, which will be effective to combat smoking. Second, there’s a need to create an even playing field (equal competition) between importers and producers, and third, the bill envisions a smooth transition to new rules of the game, since this point of the law will be in effect from 2014,” he said.