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Lusa - Business News - Cabo Verde: Higher tobacco tax earns government €233,000 in January![]()
Praia, March.24,2023(Lusa)- The sale of tobacco earned the Cabo Verde €233,000 in January, with the tax applied to each pack, which increased on the first day of the year, according to official data from the ministry of finance. According to data from the January budget, compiled today by Lusa, the tax on tobacco earned the state coffers the equivalent of 5.5% of the 470 million escudos (€4.2 million) expected, according to the government's forecast for the whole of 2023, in this case, 55% more than initially budgeted for 2022. In the first month of 2023, with the application of the increase foreseen in the budget, tobacco tax brought in 25.7 million escudos (€233,000). According to data from documents supporting the state budget for 2023, the specific tax on tobacco, of 90 escudos (€0.82) per packet, with which the government expects to earn 479 million escudos (€4.3 million) this year. It reflects an increase of 20 escudos (€0.18) per packet of cigarettes compared to the rate previously in force. The Cape Verdean Sports and Youth Institute will this year receive almost €1.5 million through the budget's consignment of revenues from taxes on tobacco, which increases, and on alcohol. "It stems from the fiscal policy in favour of the environment, health and youth. The annual cost of smoking, recently published, is around 1.62 billion escudos (€14.5 million) and directly kills over 100 people per year, while the revenue is around 0.4 billion escudos (€3.6 million)," the finance ministry said in a statement sent to Lusa. A portion of this revenue will be earmarked in 2023 "for investment projects, sports activities and youth policies," assigned to the Institute of Sport and Youth. "Therefore, taxing cigarettes is saving lives. The higher the final price, the greater the difficulty of access, particularly for our young people, and the more lives are saved. On the other hand, efficient cigarette taxation has implications for the fight against poverty, insofar as it constitutes a good portion of the family burden, with particular emphasis on the poorest families," the ministry adds in the same information. The budget proposal also earmarks 50 million escudos (€456,000) of the specific tax on alcohol for that purpose, thus totalling 160 million escudos (almost €1.5 million) earmarked for that institute's projects for this year. The sale of tobacco earned the state over 384.5 million escudos (€3.5 million) in 2022 with the tax applied to each packet, which was above the ministry of finance's expectations. According to budget data from last year, the tobacco tax yielded the state coffers the equivalent of almost 120% of what was expected and practically double the previous year. Lusa reported earlier that tobacco sales in Cabo Verde in 2021 recorded the first rise in four years, to almost 111 million cigarettes, according to figures from the Cabo Verdean Tobacco Society (SCT). According to the company's 2021 report and accounts, this is a 3.2% increase in cigarette sales but almost 13% less than the 2017 figures. In 2021, the Cape Verdean tobacco company, which has a monopoly on the activity in the archipelago, sold almost 111 million cigarettes, which compares with the peak reached in 2018 of almost 128 million cigarettes and the 107.5 million cigarettes in 2020. PVJ/ADB // ADB. Lusa/Fim Agency : LUSA Date : 2023-03-25 11:58:00
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