An assessment of proposals for reforming the European Union’s Tobacco Tax Directive

Ángel  López-Nicolás; Rob Branston; Hana Ross

doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2025.104724

An assessment of proposals for reforming the European Union’s Tobacco Tax Directive

Ángel López-Nicolás, Rob Branston, Hana Ross

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Abstract

• Leaked proposals to revise the EU's Tobacco Tax Directive (TTD) are addressing weaknesses of the current system.

• If adopted, the revised TTD would newly cover Heated Tobacco Products (HTP), E-Cigarettes and nicotine pouches, and increase the current minimum tax rates. This would increase prices tobacco products in all but six EU member states with the highest current tax rates. Unfortunately, the price impact will be relatively small.

• Some straightforward improvements to the leaked TTD are possible and, if adopted, they would enhance the public health benefits of revising the European Union common legislation for tobacco taxation.

Original language	English
Article number	104724
Journal	International Journal of Drug Policy
Volume	137
Early online date	1 Feb 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2025.104724
Publication status	Published - 31 Mar 2025

Funding

ALN is funded by the Economics for Health program at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) to conduct economic research on tobacco taxation. JHU is a partner of the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use. JRB receives funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies as part of the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco use (www.bloomberg.org). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The views expressed in this document cannot be attributed to, nor can they be considered to represent, the views of UIC, the Institute for Health Research and Policy, or Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Funders	Funder number
John Hopkins University

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

Tobacco
European union
Taxation
Reform

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Medicine (miscellaneous)
Health Policy

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10.1016/j.drugpo.2025.104724

Reforming the European Union’s Tobacco Tax Directive (accepted author manuscript)Accepted author manuscript, 223 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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abstract = "• Leaked proposals to revise the EU's Tobacco Tax Directive (TTD) are addressing weaknesses of the current system. • If adopted, the revised TTD would newly cover Heated Tobacco Products (HTP), E-Cigarettes and nicotine pouches, and increase the current minimum tax rates. This would increase prices tobacco products in all but six EU member states with the highest current tax rates. Unfortunately, the price impact will be relatively small. • Some straightforward improvements to the leaked TTD are possible and, if adopted, they would enhance the public health benefits of revising the European Union common legislation for tobacco taxation.",

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AU - Ross, Hana

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Y1 - 2025/3/31

N2 - • Leaked proposals to revise the EU's Tobacco Tax Directive (TTD) are addressing weaknesses of the current system. • If adopted, the revised TTD would newly cover Heated Tobacco Products (HTP), E-Cigarettes and nicotine pouches, and increase the current minimum tax rates. This would increase prices tobacco products in all but six EU member states with the highest current tax rates. Unfortunately, the price impact will be relatively small. • Some straightforward improvements to the leaked TTD are possible and, if adopted, they would enhance the public health benefits of revising the European Union common legislation for tobacco taxation.

AB - • Leaked proposals to revise the EU's Tobacco Tax Directive (TTD) are addressing weaknesses of the current system. • If adopted, the revised TTD would newly cover Heated Tobacco Products (HTP), E-Cigarettes and nicotine pouches, and increase the current minimum tax rates. This would increase prices tobacco products in all but six EU member states with the highest current tax rates. Unfortunately, the price impact will be relatively small. • Some straightforward improvements to the leaked TTD are possible and, if adopted, they would enhance the public health benefits of revising the European Union common legislation for tobacco taxation.

KW - Tobacco

KW - European union

KW - Taxation

KW - Reform

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85216469389

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VL - 137

JO - International Journal of Drug Policy

JF - International Journal of Drug Policy

M1 - 104724

ER -

An assessment of proposals for reforming the European Union’s Tobacco Tax Directive

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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