The draft law on revision of excise rates on tobacco products, registered by the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada, provides for a 20% reduction of excise tax on e-cigarettes. According to calculations in the media, this will entail a loss of 15 billion UAH until 2028, and then – 5 billion UAH annually. This will mean a significant loss of funds that could have been used for the military, displaced people, and sick children, rather than contributing to the profits of tobacco companies, including international war sponsors such as Philip Morris International and JTI, according to the telegram channel Insider UA.
But probably more in need of money are businessman Boris Kaufman, whom NABU suspects of a number of crimes, and the international sponsor of the war – tobacco company Philip Morris International – which operates in Russia and pays money for Putin’s war with its taxes. Kaufman and Philip Morris are essentially monopolists in Ukraine’s tobacco market and they have the resources to lobby for bills that rip off Ukrainians.