What a Shame! Cigarettes prices to increase for pure profit! tagged: , ,

What a Shame! Cigarettes prices to increase for pure profit!

Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Economy

Cigarettes prices to go up? Oh, I thought prices would go down 30% as Minister for Development & Competitiveness Michalis Chryssohoidis had proclaimed two weeks ago…  And Finance Minister Giorgos Papakonstantinou proclaimed there will be no tax increases. 

Do not come up with arguments like “Smoking is bad for your Health!” Then the same can be apllied for alcoholic drinks, greasy hamburgers etc etc.

The price increase came up after kiosks’ and mini markets’ strike demanding an increase in their profit on tobacco products. That’s the point of the price increases! And it has nothing to do with the IMF-Memorandum!

So the “Greek Statistics” Minister  increases the tax on cigarettes from 10 to 20 %  and decreases the special tobacco tax from 67 to 65%. The so-called cheap cigarettes will get an increase of ten cents and the expensive cigarettes will get an increase of 20 cents.

The new prices will start by early December.  Cheap cigarettes will increase from  EUR 2,90 to EUR 3, and the expensive will proudly reach 4 euros (1,360 Drahmas or 8 Deutsche Mark)

So everybody making profit from tobacco products will be happy: the tobacco companies, the direct sellers and the ministry.

 
Who will be unhappy? The consumers, of course. But nobody cares to ask them…. Yet the local elections are not far away.