Posted on 01/27/2010 12:51:59 PM PST by GonzoII
An increasing number of German smokers are turning to contraband cigarettes in response to higher tobacco taxes, according to research published on Monday.
Between 2005 and 2008 the number of untaxed cigarettes smoked in Germany grew from 16 to 20 percent, according to Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI) Director Thomas Straubhaar at a conference in Berlin.
Instead of reducing the number of cigarettes smoked, the tax has only increased the number of illegal cigarettes consumed – some 23 billion, according to Straubhaar.
The tax increase has also created an overall reduction in tax revenue earned on tobacco, HWWI expert Michael Bräuninger said, adding that he expected a continued increase in contraband cigarettes.
According to a study by the DZV German cigarette association presented at the event, the increase means a yearly loss of some €4 billion.
The highest number of banned smokes – most of which come from Poland – are consumed by eastern Germans, where every second cigarette is reportedly untaxed. Meanwhile every fifth cigarette in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia is contraband.
At about €140 per thousand cigarettes, Germany has Europe’s fourth highest tobacco tax after Ireland, England and France.
DDP/The Local (news@thelocal.de)
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
How long until we start seeing people growing their own tobacco plants?
When I can longer get them from my "native American" source, I will look to Europe next. lol
The tax increase has also created an overall reduction in tax revenue earned on tobacco, […].Funny how this works, eh? Stupid politicians.
Two weeks before the new taxes kicked in, I went out and bought $300 worth of RYO supplies. I still have about a pound of tobacco left, which will last a good, long while since I’m using e-cigs now and smoke two analog cigarettes per day.
So whatever the gov’t was getting from my pack-a-day American Spirit habit, they’re getting nothing now. And I’ll see to it that they get nothing from me ever again.
“How long until we start seeing people growing their own tobacco plants?”
...that kind of back yard gardening is going on right now...there were pictures posted on FR several months ago...in my area(NC)some smokers are buying bundles of leaf from farmers and rolling their own or going back to pipes.
If cigs are so deadly why does the governmnet make more from a pack than the tobbacco companies?
I just noticed you can buy a wide variety of seeds on Amazon pretty cheaply.
The tax increase has also created an overall reduction in tax revenue earned on tobacco, HWWI expert Michael Bräuninger said, adding that he expected a continued increase in contraband cigarettes.
A perfect demonstration of Laaffer’s principle that increasing taxes reduces tax receipts.
"Voodoo economics" Bush the Elder.
I just noticed you can buy a wide variety of seeds on Amazon pretty cheaply.
oops, weird double post
Another option is unflavored pipe tobacco. It’s the same tobacco, just a different cut. And it was exempted from the tax hikes (for now).
Just cut it up a little more and it’s the same as RYO tobacco.
**An increasing number of German smokers are turning to contraband cigarettes in response to higher tobacco taxes, according to research published on Monday. ***
Don’t they have Indian Smoke Shops in germany like they do on the Indian reservations and Oklahoma lands here?;-)
All cigarettes are, for the most part, the same price or not much difference among them.
Rolling your own is the best way to save but it's expensive also.
Because to the federal oligarchs, collecting taxes is a higher priority than whether you live or die. Oh, I know, that is insane, the thing taxed is going to terminate a tax payer, yet the federal oligarchs continue to keep the deadly substance legal so they can collect taxes on it. But consider also that once cigs kill, the federal coffers no longer have to pay social subsidies to the smoker ... and that’s why no ‘safe’ cigarette will ever be developed: can’t do anything to change the demographics and have smoker live longer than their potential to feed the tax coffers don’tchaknow.
“Another option is unflavored pipe tobacco. It’s the same tobacco, just a different cut. And it was exempted from the tax hikes (for now).”
Really? They raised in on the roll your own for cigarettes.
A 15.95 bag now costs over $40.00.
Do you know a good source for pipe tobacco?
Cigarettes are only the tip of the tax dodge ice berg. Germany has a thriving underground services market. “Under the table”/for cash/after normal hours mechanical work, carpentry, etc is rampant.
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