Amendment to the Italian budget aims to soften tax increase on e-cigs from 2022

The Lega party, part of the ruling coalition in Italy, has tabled an amendment to the Budget Bill 2022 aiming to increase the e-liquid excise duty each year until 2023 but with lower rates than those established by last year’s proposal.

According to the proposal, the rates on nicotine-containing e-liquids should stand at €0.11 per ml and €0.06 for nicotine-free e-liquids from January 2022.

From 2023, the rates should rise to €0.13 and €0.08 per ml for nicotine-containing and nicotine-free e-liquids, respectively.

The proposal has been modified since its original version. Initially, the Lega party proposed an amendment aiming to repeal the increase on e-liquid excise duties introduced by the Budget Law 2021, keeping the rates at €0.08 per ml for nicotine-containing e-liquids and €0.04 per ml for those without nicotine.

However, if the measures introduced by the 2021 Budget Law remain in force, rates will increase to €0.17 and €0.13 per ml for nicotine-containing and nicotine-free e-liquids, respectively, from next January. A year later, rates will rise to €0.21 per ml for nicotine-containing e-liquids and €0.17 per ml for those without nicotine.

Uncertainty remains

Umberto Roccatti, president of e-cigarette industry association ANAFE Confindustria, told ECigIntelligence that there is still uncertainty over the future of vaping products in Italy.

“I wish the government will approve a framework law that establishes the scope of action from a fiscal, production and commercial point of view, to help the legislator, businesses and consumers,” he said.

In July, the Italian Senate approved temporary tax relief for e-cigarettes until the end of the year, as part of the decree-law 73/2021 on Covid-related measures, which lowered the rate from €0.13 per ml to €0.084 per ml for nicotine-containing e-liquids, and from €0.086 per ml to €0.042 per ml for those without nicotine.

Roccatti pointed out that this reduced tax on the products has helped the sector, and a possible increase would now cause serious consequences for both companies and consumers, such as promoting the illicit sale of vaping products.

What This Means: A spokesperson from Le Lega in the Senate told ECigIntelligence that the plenary discussion about the new amendment should start next week and end before Christmas.

The final vote on the budget bill for 2022 is expected by the end of December.

– Antonia di Lorenzo ECigIntelligence staff

Photo: Marco Verch

Antonia Di Lorenzo

Assistant news editor/senior reporter

Antonia is a member of the editorial team and holds a masters degree in Law from the University of Naples Federico II, Italy. She moved in 2013 to London, where she completed a postgraduate course at the London School of Journalism. In the UK, she worked as a news reporter for a financial newswire and a magazine before moving to Barcelona in 2019.