In Luxembourg, the price of cigarettes is expected to increase shortly following the government's decision to review the amount of excise duty on tobacco. If manufacturers decide to keep the same margin, packages will cost an average of six cents more.
TOBACCO SALES REPORTED 488 MILLION EUROS IN STATE CAISSES
An increase deemed "ridiculous»Par Lucienne Thommes, Director of the Cancer Foundation. "The index slice compensates. An increase of at least 10% is necessary to obtain real results. Considering the level of income, Luxembourg is one of the countries where cigarettes are the cheapest"She says.
Regarding the tobacco control policy, economic considerations are often opposed to health logic. Tobacco sales thus brought in 488 million euros to the state coffers in 2015, and the sector provides a living from near or far to 988 people in the country. Figures that will not be enough to forget the considerable cost in terms of public health for Luxembourg, but also for neighboring countries, since 81% of cigarettes bought in the country are smoked abroad.
In the Grand Duchy, a thousand people die each year from diseases attributable to tobacco. And medical treatments to treat these pathologies represent 6,5% of health spending in the country, according to a study coordinated by the World Health Organization. The expenditure of the National Health Fund (CNS) exceeding two billion euros per year, the cost of tobacco can therefore be estimated at more than 130 million euros for the Grand Duchy alone.
Source : Lessentiel.lu
