Cigarette Taxes Encourage Smuggling In Turkey

ISTANBUL – Tax hikes on cigarettes in Turkey are helping increase the demand for smuggled cigarettes from Iraq and Syria. In a written statement issued on January 2nd the head of the Confederation of Turkish Craftsmen and Tradesmen (TESK) BendeviPalandöken claimed that the annual increases to the rate of taxes on cigarettes and alcohol need to be frozen, as the hikes are leading to an increase in the smuggling. At the start of the year the tax applied to the sale of tobacco products was increased from TRY 0.13 per pack of cigarettes, to a rate of 0.1866 per pack of cigarettes, while the rate of tax on beer and wine was hike by 15 percent and 16 percent respectively.

 

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