Excise taxes levied on the sale of tobacco currently bring in more revenue for the government than its holdings of state assets.

On July 2nd the New Zealand arm of British American Tobacco (BAT) released its financial statements for the previous financial year, showing that the company paid more in excise taxes than the government receives in dividends from all of its state-owned enterprises.

According to the statements, the company paid out in excess of NZD 801.2 million in excises taxes for the sale of cigarettes, which according to New Zealand tax experts, is more than the government can currently expect to receive in dividends from all of its 16 state-owned enterprises in one year.

The total sales for BAT were reported to be NZD 1.06 billion, with nearly three quarters of all revenues were paid to the government. In addition, BAT also paid NZD 32.9 million in corporate taxes.

Excise taxes on tobacco products are scheduled to be hiked by 10 percent each year for the next four years, and are expected to increase tax revenues from the sale of tobacco by a cumulative NZD 1.4 billion over the next four years.



Photo by Photo Extremist