Prime Minister of Lithuania Algirdas Butkevicius says simple tax stamps for cigarettes will be eliminated and will be replaced by microchips, and electronic invoices will be introduced, in order to combat smuggling, informs LETA/ELTA.
The Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LLRI) announced on Wednesday that a quarter of Lithuania’s economy is in underground and the struggle against shadow economy is being lost because ineffective measures are invoked. The prime minister said the information was false.
Butkevicius reassured that combat against underground economy is actively ongoing and none of the previous Governments held so many sittings passing so many actual measures as the current one has. The head of the Government gave an example that 17-25% more diesel fuel excise tax was collected in the first quarter of 2014 year-on-year.
Talking about measures against smuggling, the prime minister informed that the State Tax Inspectorate (VMI) was in discussions with cigarette manufacturers.
“Tax stamps might even be eliminated and so called ‘chips’ would be included in every pack, revealing who is the manufacturer of cigarettes,” Butkevicius said.
The prime minister admitted that tobacco smuggling remained high. VMI is scheduled to submit an agreement with cigarette manufacturers regarding anti-smuggling measures on Thursday.
Nonetheless, Butkevicius says the greatest change will emerge when the new tax administration system is introduced. Lithuania is gaining experience from Portuguese experts who have already implemented such reforms. (more)
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Source: The Baltic Course