Изследвания

The report "Economics of Tobacco and Tobacco Taxation. National Study - Bulgaria" approaches tobacco economics and tobacco taxation in Bulgaria from the standpoint of tobacco control. It follows the tobacco products supply chain and confirms that it currently contributes only marginally to domestic employment and production yet provokes a heavy outflow of household income abroad. The national tobacco products demand is also distorted against the background of a mass culture that normalizes smoking. As regards the taxation of tobacco products this report shows that the Bulgarian governments, by keeping the excise duty mostly flat since 2011 have contributed (along with the growing incomes) to raising the national per capita cigarette consumption by 43% in a decade.

Based on analysis of publicly available information, interviews with participants, and other sources, the authors establish and describe a mechanism of conveying messages and interests of tobacco industry to decision makers in Bulgaria, which distorts health policies in its favor. Annually the tobacco industry kills nearly 8 million people world over through chronic non-communicable diseases directly or indirectly caused by the use of its products. Governments’ determination to limit and eliminate tobacco use is irreversible since the entry into force of the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) ratified by Bulgaria in 2005.