The government has decided to raise the cigarette excise tax by 12.5 percent (weighted average) for 2021. Cigarette excise is a policy whose main objective is to reduce the consumption of cigarettes certainly with ramifications on the industry and employment, as well as illegal cigarette production.
The debate on whether excise should be applied almost does not exist as everybody agrees on the importance of lowering cigarette consumption. Based on the 2018 Indonesian Basic Health Survey, one out of three Indonesian adults smoke cigarettes. The prevalence rate in teenagers, aged 10-18, was rather high as well at 9.1 percent.
In the medium-term national development plan (RPJMN 2020-2024), it is stated that the figure should go down if we want to boost the quality of human resources. Specifically, smoking prevalence in school-aged children should be brought down to 8.7 percent in 2024. Therefore, the RPJMN states that the excise tax policy should be adjusted to meet the target.
Search A boy kicks a cigarette pack replica in an anti-smoking campaign in Bogor, West Java, last year. (Antara Photo/Arif Firmansyah) Indonesia Hikes Excise in 2021 to Make Cigarette Unaffordable BY :JAKARTA GLOBE DECEMBER 10, 2020
Jakarta. Indonesia, the world s largest cigarette market, has announced on Thursday to increase the cigarette excise by an average of 12.5 percent in 2021 in the country s latest attempt in a crusade to reduce the number of smokers and child smokers in the country.
About 33.8 percent of the country s 268 million population are smokers this year. The government hoped the excise increase would bring the smoking prevalence to 33.2 percent, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said.