FRANCE: SEVERAL FRENCH TOBACCONISTS HAVE CLOSED THEIR STORES IN PROTEST OVER A GOVERNMENT TAX HIKE ON CIGARETTES

Record ID: 647041

  • Title: FRANCE: SEVERAL FRENCH TOBACCONISTS HAVE CLOSED THEIR STORES IN PROTEST OVER A GOVERNMENT TAX HIKE ON CIGARETTES
  • Date: 20th October 2003
  • Summary: (W4) PARIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 20, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR TOBACCO SHOP AND COFFEE STORE 0.03 2. CU EXTERIOR TOBACCO SHOP 0.06 3. SV OPEN TOBACCO STORE 0.10 4. CU WOMAN PUTTING NEW PRICE TAGS ON CIGARETTE BOXES AT STORE (2 SHOTS) 0.20 5. SV CIGARRETTE BOXES IN STORE 0.23 6. SLV EXTERIOR OF CAFE 0.27 7. CU SIGN OUTSIDE TOBACCO STORE, ANNOUNCING STRIKE 0.30 8. SV OWNER COVERING CIGARRETTE SHELVES WITH SHEETS, PUTTING SIGNS SUPPORTING STRIKE/ (French) PHILIPPE EVAIN, SHOP OWNER, SAYING "I'm pulling the curtains, mate. Total strike. I'm protesting about the fact that I no longer make a profit, and against the price hike and the black market." 0.58 9. SLV CIGARETTE SHELVES COVERED WITH SHEETS 1.01 10. CU PACKET OF CIGARETTES AND CIGARETTE ON ASHTRAY 1.04 11. MCU MAN SMOKING AND DRINKING COFFEE 1.10 12. CU SIGN ANNOUNCING STRIKE (2 SHOTS) 1.16 13. SV TOBACCO SHOP OWNER PUTTING CIGARETTE BOXES ON SHELVES (2 SHOTS) 1.25 14. MCU (French) ANNIE ROUSSEAU, SAYING "We have a second business, so we are suffering less than those stores on border towns; those are dead, truly dead. They have no other option but to close down, if prices keep going up, everyone who can will go and get their cigarettes abroad." 1.44 15. CU SIGN ANNOUNCING STRIKE IN FRONT OF CIGARETTE BOXES 1.46 16. SV TOBACCO SHOP 1.50 17. SLV EXTERIOR TOBACCO STORE AND BAR 1.53 18. SV TOBACCO SIGN COVERED WITH BLANKET 1.57 19. SLV MAN LEAVING STORE BECAUSE TOBACCO SHOP WAS CLOSED 2.01 20. CU/SV OF SIGNS ANNOUNCING STRIKE (3 SHOTS) 2.13 21. MCU (French) BRIGITTE CROS, SAYING "Since the price hike was announced two weeks ago, several clients have said that they will quit, because people cannot continue smoking at these prices. If clients start quitting, our business will clearly be in danger. The more the prices go up, the more the black market booms. So I am protesting against all that." 2.45 22. SV/CU PEOPLE SMOKING AND DRINKING COFFEE (3 SHOTS) 2.57 23. MCU (French) UNIDENTIFIED SMOKER, SAYING: "Too, high, even socially it will be bad. I have started rolling my cigarettes in order to save some money. I don't think I will quit, though." 3.17 24. SLV BLACK SHEET OVER CIGARETTE SHELVES 3.22 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 4th November 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVAB5PMFEKZEOZBLNJHZV45UN9NU
  • Story Text: Several French tobacconists have closed their stores
    in protest over a government tax hike on cigarettes.



    French tobacco vendors refused to sell cigarettes on
    Monday (October 20) in an unprecedented nation-wide protest
    over a 20 percent tax hike they fear will put hundreds of
    them out of business.

    Several tobacco shops that stayed shut in Paris
    displayed posters accusing a government, which is cutting
    income tax, of hypocrisy.

    "I'm protesting about the fact that I no longer make a
    profit, and against the price hike and the black market,"
    said Parisian shop owner Philippe Evain.

    Strike response figures were unavailable early on
    Monday (October 20) but the Confederation of Tobacco
    Outlets of France was counting on a halt in sales by around
    three-quarters of some 34,000 outlets that sell tobacco
    under a state-controlled distribution system.

    In Paris, participation in the strike looked low in the
    morning, with barely half the outlets closing or covering
    up their cigarette displays.

    Defending the latest in a string of hefty tax rises
    that are being used to plug a huge deficit in public health
    care finances, Health Minister Jean-Francois Mattei went on
    radio to condemn smoking as a killer habit.

    The tax rise of 18-20 percent took the price of a top
    brand packet of 20 cigarettes to around 4.60 euros from
    3.90. Further rises in January are expected to push the
    price to five euros, compared to a price nearer three euros
    just 12 months ago.

    But some French smokers have found a way of beating the
    tax increase.

    "I have started rolling my cigarettes in order to save
    some money," said one man.

    The latest price hike puts France up near the top of
    the league table for cigarette prices in Western Europe,
    but still behind some countries like Norway and Britain.

    Mattei said it was possible the January rise could be
    postponed slightly.

    Tobacco vendors, often cafes which devote a corner of
    their premises to sales of cigarettes, fear that rising
    prices will prompt more smokers to buy on the black market
    or across the border in Italy, Spain, Belgium and
    Luxembourg.

    An earlier rise in taxes in January contributed to an
    eight percent fall in cigarette sales since. The government
    has pledged 120 million euros of aid to the sector but
    tobacconists say that is not enough.


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