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Cigarette producers, tobacco farmers up in arms over ‘excessive’ excise hike
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Fearless riders ferry tobacco from mountainside to market near Bowongso, Central Java. (JP/Dottie Bond)
C
igarette associations are swinging into action to protest the government’s plan to raise the tobacco excise to a decade high in 2020 to increase state income and discourage smoking.
Cigarette Producers Association (Gappri) head Henry Najoan expressed disappointment on Wednesday over the failure of the government to consult with factory owners before deciding on the 23 percent excise hike.
He said the increase was “excessive” in comparison to the yearly average increase of 10 percent. The Association of Cigarette Employers regional heads in West Java’s Surabaya and Central Java’s Malang echoed Henry’s dismay.
The cigarette excise was increased by 10.04 percent in 2018, 10.5 percent in 2017, 11.3 percent in 2016 and 8.7 percent in 2015, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS).
“If you want to kill [the tobacco] industry, is there already a replacement? Is it really true that if cigarette factories cease to operate, public health will improve and air pollution will be significantly less?” asked Henry, who warned that cigarette smuggling would become rampant as legal cigarettes become more expensive.
He also claimed that tobacco and clove absorption would fall by 30 percent, potentially causing job losses at factories in an already faltering industry.
