Minister for Finance Simon Harris has announced he is increasing the excise duty on a pack of 20 cigarettes by €1, with a pro-rata increase on other tobacco products.
The duty on vape products will also be raised by 20 cents per millilitre, meaning a 10ml bottle will go up €2, from 1 January next year.
The Asthma Society welcomed the measures to make tobacco and nicotine products less affordable and accessible.
But it said taxation is only one part of the solution and that measures should be matched by sufficient investment in services to support people who want to quit.
However, the Retailers Against Smuggling (RAS) group said that the €1 tobacco tax hike will drive customers away from local shops and into the black market.
In a statement, RAS spokesperson Benny Gilsenan said: “More than half of tobacco consumers are already buying some or all of their tobacco outside Ireland. The more you put up the price here, the more people will look elsewhere.
“Retailers are already struggling with the soaring cost of running a business. Now we are being told to compete with people selling cigarettes for a fraction of the price, while the Government has failed to properly tackle the black market.”
Meanwhile, industry body Responsible Vaping Ireland (RVI) said the 20c per millilitre increase in e-liquid products will add further pressure to businesses already facing spiralling operating costs.
An RVI spokesperson said: “Small retailers are already under enormous pressure from rising wages, energy bills, licencing fees and the general cost of keeping the doors open. Now the Government is looking to pile another tax increase on top of that.
“Government needs to understand that every extra cost makes it harder for legitimate retailers to compete with illegal sellers.
“More than 23,000 adults have already quit smoking with the help of vaping products, while Ireland’s smoking rate remains at 17%. We need policies that help adults move away from cigarettes, not policies that make regulated alternatives less accessible and create more opportunities for the black market.”
