The price of tobacco is going up

The new Swedish budget proposal includes tobacco tax increases of between 7 and 11%. 

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  Expect increased taxes on all kinds of tobacco.

• The price of tobacco is going up.
  The government is using a lot of black when painting the picture of the new Swedish budget, and one area where prices definitely will go up is tobacco. The tax on cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, and chewing tobacco is going up with 7% and the tax on snus (snuff) with all of 11%. That means the tax on cigarettes increases with 13 öre ($0.019) a piece, and the tax on snuff with 46 SEK (almost $7) per kilo (1 kilo=2.2 lbs). The government believes that it is possible to raise taxes on tobacco without increasing smuggling. Statistics shows that untaxed consumption has been relatively steady at 7%, but Tullverket (Swedish Customs Service) confiscations have increased per occasion and there’s no ruling out the fact that there might be more smuggled cigarettes than statistics show, according to Finansdepartementet (the Ministry of Finance).