Deni Surjantoro, head of the Communication and Information Service Bureau of the Ministry of Finance, said that the purpose of imposing this tax, on top of the excise duties, is to control tobacco consumption among the public.

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Indonesia officially imposes a new tax on e-cigarettes on January 1. (Photo: antaranews.org)

The government had provided a transition period for the collection of taxes on e-cigarettes since the imposition of excise duties in mid-2018, Deni Surjantoro said on December 30.

According to the ministry, both e-cigarettes and traditional ones are equally harmful. However, e-cigarettes were only brought under excise tax regulations in 2018. The decision to tax e-cigarettes emphasizes the principle of fairness, taking into account that conventional cigarettes involve tobacco farmers and factory workers who have been paying cigarette taxes since 2014.

The revenue from e-cigarette taxes in 2023 amounted to 1.75 trillion Rp (113.7 million USD), or about 1% of the total revenue from tobacco excise annually. More than 50% of the revenue from cigarette taxes will be directed toward public health services and law enforcement, supporting better public services, he added.

Source: VNA