Tax increase – fewer and fewer cigarettes – economy

Cigarette sales in Germany have also fallen to a low due to higher taxes. In 2022, the amount of taxed cigarettes fell by 8.3 percent to 65.8 billion, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Wednesday. The decline was therefore significantly higher than in 2021 (2.8 percent) and 2020 (1.1 percent). One reason is likely to be the increase in tobacco tax on January 1, 2022, the statisticians explained. The tobacco industry association BVTE spoke of cigarette sales at a “historic low”. Sales of cigars and cigarillos also fell, by almost nine percent to 2.5 billion units. On the other hand, the volume of taxed fine blanks rose by almost one percent to 25,080 tons, despite the tax increase. “This is probably related to the fact that hand-rolled cigarettes made from fine-cut tobacco are cheaper than finished cigarettes and are therefore often used as an alternative product,” wrote the Wiesbaden statisticians. In the long term, cigarette consumption in Germany has fallen continuously. The number of taxed cigarettes has more than halved from 146.5 billion in 1991. Since then, there have been many laws to curb smoking.