France Mulls Environmental Tax On Cigarette Stubs

Source from:  Global Tax News 02/19/2013

French senators have recently submitted a legislative proposal advocating the introduction of an environmental tax imposed on cigarette butts, payable by tobacco manufacturers.
 
Justifying their proposal, the senators explained that 53 billion cigarettes are sold through official channels each year in France and a further 15 to 18 billion cigarettes sold abroad are subsequently consumed in France. Potentially, 70 billion cigarette butts are disposed of in the environment each year, the senators argued.
 
Alluding to the fact that environmental associations have for a long time been calling for the issue to be addressed, the senators insisted that pressure from local authorities in France is now also mounting, particularly as a result of the rising costs linked to the new source of pollution.
 
Given the principle of "polluter pays," it therefore seems appropriate that a tax is introduced to finance efforts to deal with the problem, in the form of a tax levied at source on tobacco manufacturers, the senators said.
 
The senators suggested that a tax of 0.05 cent per cigarette, or 1 cent per packet of 20 cigarettes, be imposed annually on manufacturers and importers on the basis of volumes sold. The tax would be levied until the problem is finally resolved, the senators stressed, underlining the fact that it would be the responsibility of tobacco manufacturers to propose alternative scientifically proven solutions.
 
Under the proposal, a third of the product of the tax would flow to local authorities in France to finance environmental operations. Enditem