Brazil Ready to Impose Huge Cigarette Tax Increase

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 12/12/2011

A bill currently awaiting only presidential approval would increase taxes on cigarettes by up to 300 per cent in Brazil, according to a story by Luís Henrique Vieira for Fox News. The story did not go into any details about the proposed tax increase. Once passed, the new law would expand current restrictions by making it illegal to smoke tobacco in smoking rooms, airports and bars. And it would extend the ban on cigarette advertisements to point of sale. The president of the Brazilian Association of Tobacco Growers, Benício Albano Werner, said that most tobacco growers were very worried about the restrictions. "There is a climate of apprehension about these very excessive restrictions to the free trade", Werner was quoted as saying. But he added that growers and the industry were adapting to this new reality by focusing on exports. Enditem