Press release No. 016 of 15 January 2020
- The quantity of cigarettes taxed has nearly halved since 1991.
- Sales of all other tobacco products have risen significantly since 1991.
- Sales of pipe tobacco rose by just under a quarter between 2018 and 2019 alone.
WIESBADEN - In 2019, cigarette tax revenue in Germany increased by 0.3% compared with 2018. While sales of cigarettes increased only slightly, the strong upward trend in sales of pipe tobacco continued. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that the quantity of pipe tobacco taxed, which includes water pipe tobacco and tobacco products for electronic tobacco-heating devices, increased by 24.5%. year-on-year. In contrast, sales of cigars and cigarillos declined by 12.1% and the quantity of taxed fine cut tobacco decreased by 2.0%. Overall, tax was paid on tobacco products to the value of 27.4 billion euros in 2019. That was an increase of roughly 1.1 billion euros, or 4.0%, compared with 2018.
Quantity of taxed cigarettes down by nearly half since 1991
In December 2019, the Federal Government reached the agreement to further reduce tobacco products advertising and promotion. Discussion continues as to the how and when. The most recent measure was the ban on tobacco advertising in print media and on the internet in 2007. Currently, the government coalition is planning, among other things, to prohibit tobacco advertising on billboards and at stops and stations. A look at the long-term development of taxes paid on tobacco products shows that cigarette sales decreased by nearly half, from 146.5 billion pieces in 1991 to 74.6 billion pieces in 2019.
Basic data and long time series are available in table Taxation of tobacco products: Germany, years (73411-0001) in the GENESIS-Online database.
