Tax freeze, ban on Puff, what to remember from Elisabeth Borne's intervention

On RTL, Elisabeth Borne announced that no increase in taxes on tobacco products was planned for 2024. At the same time, the Prime Minister repeated the government's commitment to ban disposable electronic cigarettes (Puffs). While the details of the new National Anti-Smoking Program (PNLT) 2023-2027 should be unveiled soon, anti-smoking NGOs point out the lack of coherence in government guidelines.

In her interview for RTL, the Prime Minister mentioned the tax increases for 2023 to explain the absence of a new tax trajectory in the next Social Security Financing Bill (PLFSS), which will be discussed in Parliament in mid-October. However, as highlighted in a press release from the National Committee against Smoking, the 2023 PLFSS had then simply indexed tobacco taxation to inflation levels. Minister Gabriel Attal had then stressed that this measure should not be considered as a tax trajectory. Furthermore, anti-smoking organizations emphasize that to be effective, tax policies must be thought of in the long term and continuously. As a result, the lack of consistency on this point risks being detrimental to public health, while the latest available figures show a recovery in tobacco consumption in France.

The risk of the absence of a tax policy on public health

Furthermore, the Alliance Against Tobacco (ACT) recalled the fact that young people and low- and middle-income populations would be the first victims of the absence of a tobacco tax policy. Indeed, as international literature shows, these two population categories are the first to reduce and stop their consumption following significant increases in tobacco taxes. Beyond the obvious health benefits, such a policy is also beneficial in terms of the purchasing power of smokers who quit. For its part, the CNCT goes further, warning that the ability of the next PNLT to reduce tobacco consumption is strictly conditional on the implementation of a strong tax trajectory on all tobacco products.

Puffs Ban: Definition of “Disposable” at Stake to Avoid Circumvention

The government's announcement to ban disposable electronic cigarettes has finally been welcomed by anti-smoking NGOs, in view of the health and environmental risks posed by this new nicotine consumption device. However, the various barometers carried out by the National Committee against Smoking (CNCT) seem to indicate that such a measure has already been anticipated by manufacturers, through new generations of electronic cigarettes, electronically rechargeable, which can take up to 6,000 puffs, compared to 600 for a traditional Puff. Although these electronic cigarettes have a higher capacity, their lifespan ultimately remains extremely limited, and these devices are still intended to be quickly thrown away. Thus, one of the fundamental issues of this regulation lies in the definition that will be made of the notion of "disposable", in order to encompass all of these new products.

FT