Tobacco.org

Health surcharge on tobacco stalled by enforcement issue  

Department of Health (DOH) Minister Yeh Ching-chuan on Monday attributed a delay in implementing a mandatory increase in the health surcharge on cigarettes to a legal snag over how the measure will be enforced.

Yeh told lawmakers that under existing law, the surcharge could not be imposed until cigarette vendors had sold their current inventories of tobacco products and would only take effect on new inventory.

The DOH would prefer, however, that cigarette vendors pay the tax on their existing inventories in advance, but such a procedure has no legal basis, Yeh said.

He promised to resolve the legal quandary as soon as possible to prevent the smuggling and hoarding of tobacco products due to the delay.

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