EU Tobacco Tax Reform Needs Support, Official Urges

Support for the EU’s proposed overhaul of tobacco taxes is necessary as smoking reduction figures fall behind target, the bloc’s indirect tax chief said.

“The current minimum tax rates for tobacco products no longer assists in effectively reducing tobacco consumption,” Maria Elena Scoppio, the commission’s head of indirect tax, said during a debate on the Taxation Directive at Thursday’s FISC public hearing.

EU tobacco tax rates have been flat since 2011. Since then, alternatives to cigarettes, which contain high levels of nicotine but don’t face levies, have entered the market.

The EU proposed revisions in July to the ...