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Having lived in Germany for 13 years and traveled throughout Europe...I can tell you this tax business will make you weep. The health mafia has gone hand-in-hand with the tax mafia...to increase the taxes on smokes and booze about every eighteen months. Its usually two to three percent. So over a ten year period...when you add up the numbers...its easily a 25-percent increase.

The health mafia believes they will eventually cut both smoking and drinking. Last year...the finance ministry in Germany suddenly woke up and realized that tax revenue from smokes was off by $500-plus million. The health ministry was very happy about this and talked for days about their success. The tax folks were extremely negative about this sudden decrease. Then reality set in....Germans are going to Poland, Luxembourg, and Czech to buy their smokes. The number of illegal smokes imports has tripled in the past two years. Cops are pulling over drivers near the border and finding a hundred cartons stashed inside.

When you go to Denmark, Sweden or Norway...you will immediately notice a huge increase in booze costs. Beer is still reasonable...but everything else is out of sight. A small bottle of Jack Daniels will run $40 easily...while $13 back in Memphis. If you want cheap booze...you to your local trucker buddy who picks up a case of Russian vodka for $25 and illegally brings it back in for you. In Finland, the state runs the booze sales...like a tiny grandma's shop...with two or three choices for each type of booze...all heavily priced to keep you from excess drinking. Yet, you walk around in Finland on a Thursday afternoon after work, and 30 percent of the folks are pretty wasted anyway (men and women).

I'm married to a German gal, who smokes and drinks coffee excessively. Every five months...we pack up the car and run off to a town just across the Luxembourg border...to buy a dozen cartons of smokes and several containers of coffee. By the time you add the cost of the fuel to drive over...we still save almost $100 by paying the lesser Lux tax...plus Lux fuel is 20 percent cheaper to buy as well. Almost every German who lives within 60 miles of the Lux border...shops entirely across the border now, and save around $1000 per year when you add up everything.

So this tax ruling has a huge impact. You could have a tiny country like Estonia who could become the "smokes" capital of Europe if they cut their tax rate and went for bulk sales. And the tax revenue offices who loose income? They will have to find a new gimmick to make up for lost revenue.

Thanks for the very informative and interesting post .

I haven't been to England in over 20 years , but when I was last there the price of cigs and booze , while higher than the USA , wasn't out of sight . I smoked at the time and always brought back Brit cigs for myself and for others . Booze ? All I drank in England was the beer , and I love it dearly , but even I would cust back if prices became excessively expensive .

Japanese cigarettes are still taxed relatively low . One cam buy a pack for about $ 2 either in the shops or in one of the myriad vending machines lining street corners and storefronts across the land . Alcohol taxes are reasonable as well , but the tax on beer is a bit excessive . A case of Kirin for example will set you back $ 40 . It's probably less expensive the in states .

Keep in mind , the national sales tax is at 5% at present , and we expect an increase within the next two years to 8% . This tax is levied on every good and service inc. medicine , hospital bills , food ...nothing is exempt .