#cigarettetaxes On the 10th of January, the Sri Lankan government increased excise taxes on cigarettes, and the Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC) increased price by much more than the tax increase. The net outcome undermined the fiscal and tax objectives of the government. How? The percentage of the cigarette price collected as tax was already below the WHO and UNDP recommended benchmark of 75%. Following the current measures, it reduced even further! For the most sold brand (MSB) it dropped from 68.8% to 68.4%, while for the least priced brand (LPB) it fell from 70.0% to 66.1%. *TLDR:* instead of increasing government’s share of revenue from cigarette sales, these measures have reduced it even further. 👉 read this article to learn about the stealth reduction of cigarette tax rates over the last 10 years: https://bit.ly/3Q1pCMq