Consumption, taxation and government revenue
| Local cigarettes | Imported cigarettes | Shisha tobacco* | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retail price/pack, US$† | 0.5 | 1.67 | 2.00 |
| Quantity (in packs)‡ | 81 500 000 | 306 800 000 | 294 000 |
| Total expenditure | US$40 750 000 | US$512 356 000 | US$588 000 |
| Tax value per pack, US$§ | |||
| Excise | 0.24 | 0.75 | 0.40 |
| Customs | 0.00 | 0.03 | 0.07 |
| VAT | 0.02 | 0.07 | 0.13 |
| Total tax value/pack¶ | 0.26 | 0.86 | 0.60 |
| Tax percentage of retail price | 52% | 51% | 30% |
| Government revenue | |||
| Excise | US$19 235 000 | US$195 780 000 | US$100 000 |
| Customs | – | US$9 064 000 | US$17 000 |
| VAT | US$1 781 000 | US$18 128 000 | US$33 000 |
| Total | US$21 016 000 | US$222 972 000 | US$150 000 |
*A pack of shisha tobacco typically contains 50–250 g of tobacco. The tobacco is commonly packed in cardboard boxes of various sizes, but is also sold in jars and tin cans.18
†The retail price per pack is obtained from interviews conducted with key informants by the authors.
‡The total quantity consumed per product is calculated based on the household survey and Chaaban et al.6
§The tax value per pack is based on the import cost, insurance and freight (CIF) prices for imported tobacco products (obtained from the Customs Administration at the Ministry of Finance) and the factory prices for local tobacco (obtained from the Regie at the Ministry of Finance).
¶The total tax refers to the combination of excise, custom and VAT taxes.