Germany's Cigarette and E-Cigarette Tax Revenue in 2022

On February 8th, the Federal Statistical Office of Germany released data on the taxation of nicotine products. The data revealed that in 2022, the German government will tax 226,000 liters of e-cigarette oil, resulting in a total revenue of 42.6 million euros from the taxation of such products.

It has been reported that Germany will start imposing a tax on e-cigarette liquids from July 2022, with a tax rate of 0.16 euros per milliliter. The German finance ministry predicts that by 2026, e-cigarettes will generate revenue of one billion euros.

However, despite the increase in taxes, the federal government collected €14.23 billion in tobacco taxes in 2022, which is €340 million less than in 2021.

The reasons for this include a decrease in cigarette sales in Germany in 2022, with a record low of 65.8 billion sold, down 8.3%. Cigar and cigarillo sales also experienced an 8.9% decrease from the previous year. Additionally, the category of pipe tobacco for taxation purposes included traditional pipes, hookahs, and tobacco heaters in 2021, but now only reflects sales of traditional pipes, which reached 324.5 tons in 2022. The production of hookah tobacco was 962.6 tons.

In addition, the share of tax-free cigarette sales in Germany has decreased from 19.1% in 2019 to 17.3% in 2022, which may be due to travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the German Tobacco Industry and New Products Association (BVTE), this means that the decline in legal cigarette sales has not been completely offset by sales of products purchased abroad or on the black market.

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Sales of cigarettes in Germany have reached a record low.