Social and Economic Effects of the Introduced Rates of Excise Duty on Tobacco Products in Poland in the 2000 and 2010 Period

Abstract

The article presents a discussion and an analysis of how the successive
rises in the excise rate on tobacco products in the years 2000–2010 influenced
the level of the budget income, the economic condition of Polish producers of
tobacco products and changes in the level and structure of tobacco products
consumption in Poland.
Apart from statistical data illustrating the development dynamics of the
above-mentioned phenomena under the influence of changes in the level of
excise, the author presents some results of his survey carried out in a group of
several hundred consumers and data and opinions received from four of the
six major tobacco producers in Poland. These data and the presented analyses
of the data obtained as the survey results had an impact on the author’s
critical opinion on the institutions responsible for the governmental policy.
Probably not in the field of the budget income tasks fulfillment, because
here the government did not make a big mistake, but because of the negative
results from the policy towards the tobacco industry that resulted in the
development of grey market, increase in the scale of smuggling, deterioration
of the consumption structure, i.e. the quality of the tobacco products with the
evident consequences for the state of health of the consumers who because
of higher prices moved towards the consumption of lower quality products.