Moldovan parliament decreases excises on tipped cigarettes

Lawmakers of the ruling Alliance for European Integration voted in first reading for decreasing ad valorem taxes on filtered cigarettes from 30% to 24% for 1,000 cigarettes, at the parliamentary meeting held on November 2.

Presenting the draft law, Democrat MP Valeriu Guma said that the Budget-and-Tax Policy for 2013 envisages excise taxes of 30%.

«This could lead to a more significant rise in prices on cigarettes and to an imminent growth of contraband flows. In order to avoid this, we propose that the excises be maintained at the level of 24%,» he said.

He also said that the price gap between cheap and expensive cigarettes reached the unconceivable figure of 700%, which can be explained by the increasing flow of contraband cigarettes.

In his turn, Communist lawmaker Oleg Reidman said that the opposition has been insisting on the decrease on cigarette excises for over the past two years.

«We could have earned 250 million lei to the state budget. Yet, you did not accept our initiative then are now trying to play back the situation,» he told the ruling coalition.

In retort, Guma said that during the Communists’ leadership in 2005 he also advocated the decrease in excises on cigarettes, but did not succeed in the promotion of his initiative.

Adapted from Infotag