Govt to raise cigarette excise up to 10 percent

JAKARTA: The government has said it had planned to raise a cigarette excise by up to ten percent next year.

“The new excise will be imposed by January 2011. The excise adjustment is made based on the inflation rate estimate in 2011,” Finance Ministry’s Customs and Excise director general, Thomas Sugijata said on Saturday.

According to Thomas, the government targets to net more than Rp 62.7 trillion (US$ 6.96 billion) from excise in 2011, higher than Rp 60.7 trillion as proposed in the 2011 state budget.

“The new cigarette excise will help us raise additional revenue of Rp 2 trillion,” he said. — JP