The price of cigarettes is set to increase in February 2012 as the government cabinet on September 21 approved the Finance Ministry's proposal to hike the excise tax on cigarettes one year earlier than originally planned, the TASR newswire reported.
Two parties of the governing coalition, Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party and the OKS faction of Most-Híd party announced they will decide on their position on the tax rise towards the end of the year when the 2012 budget is in the approval process.
The head of SaS's parliamentary caucus, Jozef Kollár, said that his party probably will not object to a hike in the excise tax, saying that reasons to support the measure include an EU directive that is supposed to be incorporated into Slovakia's statutes as of 2013 as well as calculations made by the Health Ministry about the costs associated with treating smoking-related diseases.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
