The Government could satisfy the tobacconists' lobby and introduce a new tax on e-cigarettes. The measure is being studied and should be included among the revenue items useful for financing the decree for the payment of public administration debts. This would be an amendment by the rapporteurs which establishes the application of the excise duty also on "products containing nicotine or substitutes for tobacco consumption".
The new tax, in any case, could guarantee public coffers only a handful of millions. Very little compared to the total value of the payments decree, equal to 40 billion in two years. To date, VAT is paid on refills for electronic cigarettes, but no excise duty is applied, which instead weighs on the price of normal tobacco products.
“This is a maneuver by the tobacco lobby – commented the Ovale company, one of the first to invest in the sector in Italy -. The new tax is against Italians: it affects one of the few growing and job-producing markets”.
Meanwhile, today the Budget Committee of the Chamber is meeting to close the examination of the amendments to the payments decree. Tomorrow the text will arrive in the Chamber.
