Prices of cigarettes will spike upward

From the next year the smokers may expect a real drama. The Ministry of Finance, led by Jacek Rostowski is planning to increase the excise tax on cigarettes by 20%.
It means that the price of the packet will grow to 8 zloty (more or less 2.30 Euro). At the moment the government is torturing the smokers with giant taxes which account for 87% of the price of the packet. If you took away all taxes, one packet would cost 80 groszy (20cent). Unfortunately, the government want them to pay even more. The increase of the excise tax will necessitate further automatic escalation of prices, even by 2 zloty on a packet. " The fact that the price must increase is obvious", said Hubert Zawadzki, the spokesman of a tabbaco company Philip Morris. The government PO-PSL ( Civic Platform - Polish People's Party) remains adament and the further increase of excise tax is explained with " adjustments to EU's rate". But these rates for our neighbours, Germany and Chech Republic, are lower...