Do the V4 Countries Follow the European Deficit? Evidence of Tobacco Taxes

The average tax rate imposed on tobacco products in the European Union is insufficient if compared with the social costs of smoking, as has been proven by previous research. Does it also uniformly apply to the V4 countries, which are different from the rest of the EU in certain aspects? The conducted research has shown that the social deficit caused by smoking both in the V4 countries and in the EU on average was always in positive numbers during the years 2008 to 2015. This means that the tax imposed on tobacco products fails to cover the social costs of tobacco consumption. The social deficit per unit of manufactured tobacco in the V4 countries is lower than the average value of this indicator within the EU. The social deficit increased in the V4 countries apart from the Czech Republic during the examined period. Although the absolute social deficit as well as the social deficit per capita developed differently in the respective V4 countries, they also reached positive values. This may be legitimately deemed a failure of the state in the application of a remedial tax.