China Urged To Tax Its Way Out Of Smoking 'Pandemic'

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

30 December 2015

The World Bank has urged China to considerably hike tax on tobacco products, to save millions of lives over the next decade.

In a new report, the Bank said that many other countries had seen success with discouraging smoking with high rates of tax on tobacco products. It said this would also provide significant revenue, which could be reinvested into other priority areas.

In May 2015, China's Ministry of Finance announced a nominal increase in tobacco taxation, of CNY5 (USD0.8) per thousand cigarettes, alongside an increase in the wholesale tax rate. While welcoming the move, the World Bank said rates must be regularly increased in line with inflation.

China levies considerable lower tobacco taxes than the other BRICS economies (Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa).

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