A group of senators has submitted to the State Duma a bill that would impose an excise tax on any tobacco-free mixtures for heating, regardless of the presence of nicotine in them, according to the database of the lower house of parliament.
The document classifies as excisable any tobacco-free mixtures for heating, regardless of whether they contain nicotine. It is proposed to make appropriate changes to the Tax Code.
"This measure, providing for the inclusion of an excise tax in the price of any tobacco-free mixture, will help both reduce the economic opportunity to purchase unwanted products and increase federal revenues," the explanatory note says.
It will also help to stop the unfair practices of individual manufacturers who add hidden nicotine to tobacco-free mixtures for heating and use the phrase "may contain nicotine" in the description of the composition, thereby avoiding paying excise tax, the developers expect.
The explanatory note, with reference to calculations by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, states that the excise tax on nicotine raw materials and tobacco-free nicotine-containing mixtures, introduced on March 1 this year, will increase the total amount of budget revenues by 156 billion rubles in 2025-2027, including 50 billion rubles in 2025. "Extending the excise tax to all tobacco-free mixtures, including nicotine-free ones, will have an even more tangible financial effect, as the share of such products in the market of tobacco-free mixtures, according to expert estimates, reaches 40%," the note says.
The Government of the Russian Federation supports the bill, provided it is finalized, noting that it does not specify the concept of a "tobacco-free mixture for heating", which will be subject to excise duty. As a result, "any kind of mixtures that do not contain tobacco and nicotine and can be consumed by humans as food products (including black tea, green tea) can fall into this category," the Cabinet of Ministers points out in its conclusion.
In this regard, according to the Government, additional justification is required for the proposed establishment of a single excise tax rate for any tobacco-free mixtures for heating, regardless of the presence of nicotine in them.
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