Tobacco taxes

The main gain, even economically, lies in the fact that many costs of illnesses will be avoided in the long term.

— Karl Lauterbach, SPD; statement on the health-policy rationale for raising the tobacco tax.

Thus, many smokers will not switch from legal cigarettes to rolling tobacco, but from legal cigarettes to illegal cigarettes—our legal companies lose customers and the treasury loses out on tax revenue; the winner is organized crime.

— Michael von Foerster, spokesperson for the Association of the German Tobacco Industry (VdR), on the potential shift to illegal cigarettes and impact on legal firms and state revenue

It has been shown that, from a health policy perspective, price increases on cigarettes are more effective when they are noticeable.

— Hendrik Streeck, in an interview with the Rheinische Post on Saturday

"measured increase"— The German federal government described the planned tobacco tax rise as a measured increase.

Higher prices deter young people from starting to smoke and help many smokers quit. It is cynical to reject the argument that higher tobacco taxes will lead to fewer people smoking and therefore that revenue could fall.

— Hendrik Streeck, Federal Government Drug Commissioner, on World No Tobacco Day.