Hungary: Falling Cigarette Sales Could Leave Budget HUF 40billion Short

Source from:  Politics.hu 11/07/2013

A decline in tobacco sales could cause a 40 billion forint (EUR 135m) shortfall in revenue from excise tax and VAT, business daily Napi Gazdasag said on Wednesday.

Revenue from excise tax on cigarettes was 18 billion forints in October, a little over half of that in September, the paper said. Talks with industry analysts are under way at the Economy Ministry, it added.

Economy Minister Mihaly Varga said earlier that a drop in excise tax revenue from cigarettes in July and August — the first two months after the introduction of a state monopoly on retail tobacco sales — was in part due to higher sales in the base period, when shops stocked up on cigarettes before a tax rise. He also said tobacco sellers bought a record number of excise tax stamps in August, the effect of which would be seen mostly in September.

Data on revenue from excise tax for the month of October will not be published by the ministry until Nov. 21. Enditem