Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-02-05-Speech-2-062"
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"en.20020205.4.2-062"2
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"Mr President, I and my delegation of British Conservatives welcome the rejection of the Commission's proposal in the previous vote in Parliament, and we regret the current proposal to accept the Commission's proposal, which is flawed. We will be supporting a number of Mr Katiforis' amendments because they make a bad proposal rather better.
However, overall, we cannot give our support to this proposal because we do not believe in the upwards harmonisation of tobacco taxes. Tax is a matter for nation-states, for domestic governments, and should remain the preserve of domestic governments, which are democratically elected and democratically accountable, tax being one of the most fundamental aspects of nationhood and statehood.
In addition, we are by no means convinced by the health arguments on smoking and tax. We are increasingly concerned that ever-spiralling levels of tax on cigarettes may lead to increased smuggling. Such illegal smuggling of cigarettes from outside the European Union is now causing a great deal of concern and may lead to an increase in smoking, certainly in my constituency and much of the United Kingdom.
So the health issues in favour of high tobacco taxes are not clear cut but, even more importantly, we do not believe in the upward harmonisation of excise duties or, in particular, the upward harmonisation of tobacco taxes. Hence, we will be opposing the Commission's proposal."@en1
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