Can the constant rise in the price of tobacco create a trigger for to quit cigarettes for good ? This is what the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn hopes for, who spoke on the subject in an interview with CNews on Tuesday, February 28, on the eve of a one euro increase in the packet of cigarettes. The average price of the package will thus hover around eight euros. “Eight euros, I think it’s starting to significantly impact purchasing power,” said the minister, taken up by AFP. Agnès Buzyn is betting on “an awareness” of smokers. “It is important to know that at the end of the year, several thousand euros per year are put into cigarettes (by each smoker, editor’s note). And then, that has a societal cost with 73,000 deaths per year, and a cost to Social Security of 20 billion euros each year, and broken lives and families. “
A dual objective: more tax revenue and less cancer?
This new increase in the price of tobacco is the second implemented by the Macron government. In November, the price of the package had already been revised upwards to the tune of 30 euro cents. Other increases should follow on average every six months, in accordance with the plan of the Ministry of Health with an increase of 50 cents in April, 50 cents in November 2019, 50 cents in April 2020 and 40 cents in November 2020.
This surge in the price of tobacco is part of the government’s desire to increase the packet of cigarettes to 10 euros by 2020. The objective is twofold for the State. It is economical, since tax revenues go hand in hand with these gradual increases, due to rising taxes. These are not negligible: the taxes linked to the sale of cigarettes bring in 14 million euros per year.
But these increases are also motivated by a public health concern: the aim is to discourage young people from start smoking and smokers to quit. Each year in France 73,000 deaths are linked to tobacco, of which 45,000 by cancer, according to the” National Cancer Institute. Tobacco is the most important preventable risk factor for cancer.
Press release | New prices for products from the #tobacco, a new step for the prevention of entry into smoking and to encourage smokers to stop smoking ➡️ https://t.co/K2uee6L2Gy#Public healthpic.twitter.com/92Wfjw3HZI
– Ministries of Bercy (@_Bercy_) February 28, 2018
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