Retailers refund health levy on old cigarettes

Major retailers yesterday announced that customers who bought cigarettes at their stores between last Thursday and yesterday are eligible for a refund of NT$5 per pack if they present receipts of the purchase.

These include the convenience store chains 7-Eleven (run by President Chain Store Corp), Taiwan FamilyMart (全家), Hi-Life (萊爾富), OK and Taiwan Nikomart (福客多), as well as hypermarket operators RT-Mart (大潤發) and Far Eastern Geant (愛買). Carrefour is expected to announce its plan today.

The move, made at the request of the Ministry of Finance and in response to consumer complaints, is to reimburse buyers for the tax that had been wrongfully imposed on cigarettes produced or imported into the country before the implementation of the new, higher health tax last Thursday.

The legislature passed the amendments to the Tobacco and Liquor Tax Law (菸酒稅法) early last month, raising the health tax on a pack of cigarettes from NT$5 to NT$10.

Convenience store chains will start including the new special health tax on cigarettes tomorrow.

That means today is the last day when smokers can save a little bit of money from purchases at these chain stores.

Hypermarkets will use different measures to conform to the new pricing system.