If the increase was voted on and imposed, it would coincide in time with the increase in VAT. A development that would further burden the consumer in the midst of the financial crisis.
The majority of the parliament voted against the bill.
30 deputies from DISY, DIKO, EDEK, EUROKO and the deputy of the Famagusta constituency Zacharias Koulias opposed the bill. The MP of the Ecologists voted in favor.
AKEL with its 15 deputies present abstained.
DISY Vice President Averof Neophytou said that the government chose the worst time to submit the bill, after today he said the VAT increase to 17% was imposed on almost all products and services.
He also pointed out that the economic policy of a government when it fails to resort to taxes on consumer goods, adding that there is a distortion in the excise tax between twisters and regular cigarettes. To correct the distortion, he stressed, is not only the increase but also the reduction of the tax.
Mr. Neophytou called on the government to conduct a study to determine the extent of the impact of the unplanned, as he characterized it, increase in the tax on cigarettes a year ago and the creation of many distortions in the cigarette market.
Concluding, he stated that "when the government comes deliberately we are ready to reconsider our position".
For his part, the President of EUROKO, Dimitris Syllouris, wondered why the bill was submitted at the last minute, adding "who had secret information and got it?".
Zacharias Koulias also wondered why the government is asking for an increase in the tobacco tax on the day the VAT is increased. "We have to be more consistent and responsible in delicate matters," he said.
The fire was repulsed by the parliamentary representative of AKEL, Nikos Katsouridis, who stressed that "if you want there to be consistency, what was said in the finance committee should be the position of the parties in the Plenary".
Source: SigmaLive