BAKU, Azerbaijan. Feb.12
By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:
The Parliament of Azerbaijan in the second reading approved the inclusion of all tobacco products in the list of excisable goods, Trend reports on Feb.12.
In this regard, an amendment to the Tax Code of Azerbaijan was submitted for discussion at a meeting of the Azerbaijani Parliament, held on Feb.12.
According to the proposed amendment, it’s envisaged to increase the rates of excise taxes on both the production and import of tobacco products, and the introduction of pipe tobacco, as well as tobacco and its products intended for smoking, chewing, absorption, sniffing, all types of hookahs in the list of excisable goods.
The respective bill reminded that the share of tobacco imports in consumption from January through October 2017 amounted to 89.5 percent, for the same period in 2018 - 74.5 percent, in 2019 - 44.1 percent, and in 2020 - 12.3 percent. Thus, the share of domestic production of tobacco products in consumption grew up to 87.7 percent.
As a result of the ongoing economic reforms, there was a reduction in the flow of currency outside Azerbaijan due to the provision of consumer demand within the country through local production and the lowering of the volume of imports.
Besides, as a result of the increase in excise tax rates on tobacco products, the total consumption in the first 10 months of 2017 made up over 10.6 million units, while compared to 2020 it decreased to 8.5 million units. At the same time, in 2017 the total amount of payments of taxpayers involved in the production and import of tobacco products equaled 87.9 million manat ($51.7 million), while in 11M2020 this figure reached 473.5 million manat ($278.5 million), and by late 2020 the total amount of tax revenues made up nearly 520 million manat ($305.8 million).
Besides, the provisions of agreements in the field of health care and the requirements of other international organizations provide for a phased increase in excise taxes to reduce the consumption of products that are harmful to health.
Following discussions, the document was put to a vote and adopted in the second reading.