Cigarettes to rise in price by 75c for a pack of 20 and vapes to be taxed next year

The Government has announced in Budget 2024 that it will be increasing the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes by 75 cent from midnight tonight, and has proposed that next year’s budget will include a new tax on e-cigarettes and vaping products.

Minister for Finance Michael McGrath announced that excise duty on a packet of 20 cigarettes will be increasing by 75 cent, with a pro-rata increase on other tobacco products.

The increase is more than the expected 50 cent increase, and will bring the price of a packet of cigarettes to €16.75.

Minister McGrath said that the increase “supports public health policy to reduce smoking levels in Irish society”.

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Meanwhile there was no increase in duty for other “old reliables” wine and beer.

The Minister also announced that next year’s budget will include a new domestic tax on e-cigarettes and vaping products.

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“In light of public health interests, continuing delays to the revision of the Tobacco Products Tax Directive and the Programme for Government commitment to tax e-cigarettes and vaping products, I am proposing to introduce a domestic tax on these products in next year’s Budget,” he said.

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He said “considerable preparatory work” will need to be carried out by the Department of Finance and Revenue to draft the underpinning legislation.

The Irish Heart Foundation welcomed the budget announcements regarding cigarettes and e-cigarettes.

Director of advocacy with the foundation, Chris Macey, said a tax on vapes is a crucial measure to reduce youth use of e-cigarettes and protect children’s health, but queried whether the Government needed to wait as long as next year’s budget to introduce the measure.

“Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances on the planet and there has been an explosion in youth use of e-cigarettes that has been further fuelled by the advent of disposable vapes. We can’t afford to wait a moment longer than necessary to impose this tax,” he said.

Last week, the charity called on the Minister to introduce a 10 cent tax per millilitre of e-liquid, which would increase the cost of single-use vapes by €2.

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Meanwhile, John Mallon, spokesman for the smokers’ lobby group Forest Ireland, said that smokers “don’t deserve” the excise increase on cigarettes and tobacco products.

“Annual tax hikes on tobacco are punishing consumers for enjoying a perfectly legitimate habit. Not only does it discriminate against consumers on lower incomes, it will drive even more smokers to the black market,” he said.

“Legitimate retailers will lose business to criminal gangs, and smokers who stay within the law will be further punished compared to those who, understandably, buy their tobacco from illicit traders,” he added.