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The government has scratched its plan to raise tobacco prices by W500 (US$0.5) per pack next year. The ruling Uri Party spokesperson Oh Young-sik said Friday that there was a consensus that it would not be appropriate to raise the price of cigarettes next year considering the economic recession, adding that there would be no further discussion on cigarette price hikes for the time being.
The Government Administration and Home Affairs Committee already passed the revised bill of the Local Taxes Act that included a W131 increase on cigarette excise taxes on Wednesday, but the Assembly passed the bill by deleting the article concerning the cigarette price increase in the plenary session on Friday. The government had presented a bill to raise the tobacco price by raising taxes on tobacco consumption and the public health promotion tax in order to discourage smoking.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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