Estado del arte del debate de la tributación y la regulación del cigarrillo de combustión y de los Productos de Tabaco Calentado y de Vapeo

Abstract

The study analyzes the potential impact of two bills that tax combustion cigarettes such as heated tobacco products (HTP) and vaping products (PV). During its development, consultations were carried out with departmental authorities, speakers and experts on the subject, the fiscal impact of the initiatives and the effect on smuggling were analyzed. Likewise, a comparison was made with the regulation and level of taxation of traditional cigarettes, PTC and PV in neighboring countries. It was found that one of the projects (PL 274/2022) proposes an increase in the specific component of the cigarette tax by 157%, compared to the current rate for 2023 (8,400 versus 3,263). This action could potentially increase cigarette smuggling in Colombia, which in turn could decrease the departments' tax revenues in the long term. For this, the negative impact of a similar increase that occurred in Ecuador was taken into account. The second project (PL 308/2023) proposes a smaller increase with which the impacts would be much smaller in terms of potential collection and smuggling. In any case, it is important to highlight that not only the policy of taxes is important, so complementary regulation is necessary to strengthen the fight against tobacco and the growing popularity of these new products.