烟草在线据Emirates247报道编译　　一名官员1月30日表示，阿联酋和其他海湾石油生产国批准的新税率在2012年底生效后，吸烟者将迎来卷烟价格新一轮上涨。

　　阿联酋卫生部反吸烟行动组主管Widad Al Maidoor博士表示，作为抑制地区烟草产品消费联合计划的一部分，六国海湾合作委员会（GCC）的卫生部长表示支持“健康税”。

　　“新法规旨在减少六国海湾合作委员会成员国的烟草消费，并计划征收一项名为‘健康税’的新税收……这将影响到烟草产品及用以制造和加工它的设备……烟草税将与100%的烟草产品价格相当。”

　　引用半官方日报《团结报》的报道，Maidoor表示，新法规将在海湾合作委员会财政部批准后，于2012年底实施。

　　过去几年，随着一系列海湾合作委员会的税率变动及全球大部分商品的价格上涨，卷烟价格一直稳步上提。

　　销售商们表示，即便涨价，该地区的卷烟价格仍然远远低于发达国家的价格。“以英国为例，一包20支装的卷烟目前售价将近30摩洛哥迪拉姆（摩洛哥货币单位），是该地区价格的4倍。”阿布扎比的一名超市业主说道。

Cigarette prices set to soar after new Gulf tax

Emirates247
Jan 30, 2012

　　Smokers should brace themselves for a fresh rise in the price of cigarettes when a new tax approved by the UAE and other Gulf oil producers is enforced at the end of 2012, an official was reported on Monday as saying.

　　Health ministers from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) endorsed the "health tax" at talks in Saudi Arabia in early January as part of joint plans to curb the consumption of tobacco in the region, said Dr Widad Al Maidoor, head of the anti-smoking section at the UAE Ministry of Health.

　　"The new law is intended to reduce tobacco consumption in the GCC and envisages the imposition of a new tax called 'health tax'.…it will affect tobacco products and equipment used in its production and manufacturing…the tax will amount to 100 per cent of the product's value."

　　Quoted by the semi official daily Alittihad, Maidoor said the new law would be enforced at the end of 2012 after it is approved by the GCC finance ministers.

　　Cigarette prices have steadily increased over the past years following a series of GCC taxes and a surge in global prices of most consumer items.

　　Dealers said that despite the rise, cigarette prices in the region remain far below those in advanced countries. "In Britain for example, a 20-cigarette pack now sells for nearly Dh30, more than four times the prices here," said an owner of a supermarket in Abu Dhabi.