Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) informed the FED on Tuesday of a 153% increase in the price per cigarette for premium brands, from Rs. 6.5 to Rs. 16.5.
As a result of the finance minister’s supplementary finance bill, which was tabled in parliament this week and proposed an additional tax and duty of Rs 170 billion on luxury goods such as cigarettes, the prices of various cigarette brands such as Marlboro, Benson and Hedges, Gold Leaf, Capstan, Gold Flake, Dunhill, Embassy, and Morven Gold have skyrocketed.
For less costly brands, the price per stick increased by 98%, from Rs 2.55 to Rs 5.05. Reacting to the huge jump in FED, one of the major multinational tobacco firms in Pakistan, Philip Morris Pakistan Ltd., has claimed that the latest increase in FED on cigarettes by greater than 150% will result in a price increase of more than 250% as compared to the prices of the cigarettes in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2022.
“The proposed unprecedented tax hike for the tax-paying tobacco companies will effectively favour the already vast illicit cigarette manufacturers in Pakistan.”
This will also result in significant shortfalls in government revenue as volumes shift from the tax-paid sector to the non-tax-paid sector, as has frequently occurred in the past, said Philip Morris Pakistan Ltd. spokesperson Philip Lee in a statement.
