Sweden making headways in the snus industry. The government intends to review the taxes for tobacco and nicotine. This will mean that the tax on snus is reduced while the taxes for e.g. cigarettes and smoking tobacco are raised. Through this, the price of a box of snus is expected to be reduced by about 3 SEK, and the price of a pack of cigarettes to be raised by about 4 SEK.
The parliament of Sweden has previously decided that the tobacco tax will be increased in 2023 and 2024. Recently however, inflation has been higher than the forecasts that the increases were based on, which means that the tax for 2024 will actually be lower than if the increases had not been implanted. This is because the taxes are normally calculated with inflation, but no such recalculation is made if the tax is changed at the end of the year.
The government therefore believes that the tax on most tobacco products, including cigarettes and smoking tobacco should be increased by approximately 9 percent.
For tobacco snus however, there are reasons to lower the tax instead. The tax on tobacco snus is today clearly lower than the tax on cigarettes and smoking tobacco, because cigarettes and smoking tobacco are considered to pose a greater health hazard. This difference should be further reflected and there is therefore reason to lower the tax on tobacco snus by around 20 percent. This means that the price of a can of snus is expected to be reduced by around 3 SEK.
The changes should enter into force on 1 November 2024 and the government intends to come back with a proposal to the parlament.
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