Extra Tobacco, Wine Duty Hike next Year

Source from:  nisnews.nl THE HAGUE, 22/11/07 11/23/2007

Excise duty on tobacco, already being hiked sharply on 1 January 2008, will go up again on 1 July 2008. Wine will also become more expensive. Finance State Secretary Jan Kees de Jager is simultaneously reducing a planned gambling tax. The duty on a packet of 20 cigarettes will go up by 8 cents next July, on top of the already planned hike of 21 cents. The selling price including VAT will then be 35 cents higher. The price of hand-rolling tobacco ('shag'), much used in the Netherlands, will go up by 10 cents in July. This is on top of the already proposed increase of 26 percent. The cabinet is also increasing excise duties on wine by 16 percent. This will yield the treasury 39 million euros. A bottle of wine will go up in price by about 50 cents. A new tax rate of 29 percent will be levied on casino gaming and fruit machines. Originally, De Jager wanted to introduce a rate of 40.85 percent, but state gambling monopoly Holland Casino had complained about the 40.85 percent rate. The Cigarette Industry Foundation reacted with horror. "The smoker is being used as a cash cow to moderate the proposed tax on casino gaming." According to the foundation, the door is being opened to illegal trade, whereby the government will lose out on excise duties. De Jager is giving the auto sector more time to sell off stocks of diesel cars. Originally, new rules were to come in on 1 February 2008 providing a tax advantage for the purchase of 'clean' new cars and raising the tax on 'polluting' cars. This will now come into effect on 1 April. Enditem