The federal government's drug commissioner, Hendrik Streeck (CDU), has spoken out in favour of revising the tobacco tax increase planned by the government upwards during the parliamentary process. "It has been proven that, in health policy terms, it makes more sense if price increases on cigarettes are actually noticeable," Streeck told the "Rheinische Post" in its Saturday edition.
For that reason, he said, the planned tobacco tax increase must not come "in dribs and drabs" as the federal government intends, but must be substantially larger.
The current plans of Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) provide for the tax to rise by 40 cents per pack of cigarettes per year until 2030. The tax on spirits is to increase by 20 percent. CDU member of parliament Streeck said he was confident that there would be a majority within the Union parliamentary group for a clearer increase in alcohol and tobacco tax, and he defended the plans against criticism.
Streeck pointed out that there are 131,000 tobacco-related deaths each year. The economic costs of smoking amount to around 97 billion euros, he said. Set against that are roughly 15.6 billion euros in tobacco tax revenue. The price of cigarettes is, particularly among young people, "one of the most effective prevention instruments we have," Streeck said.
Streeck's push comes after the coalition had already revised its own plans upward once. The cabinet had originally approved a tobacco tax rising step by step from 1 January 2027, which would have taken a pack of 20 cigarettes above eleven euros by 2030 and brought in around 756 million euros in additional revenue in 2027, climbing to 3.589 billion euros by 2030.
The coalition parliamentary groups then asked for those rates to be adjusted upward again, so that a pack would cost nearly twelve euros by 2030, roughly 40 cents more than the cabinet version, with fine-cut tobacco for hand-rolled cigarettes facing a similarly steeper increase.
The Finance Ministry said the sharper rise serves both budget consolidation and the protection of public health. The opposition is unconvinced: Left Party leader Ines Schwerdtner called it a measure to plug budget holes rather than a health strategy, while Green Party leader Franziska Brantner said the revenue must be channelled into the healthcare system, which so far remains unclear.
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