No. 81. EXCISE TAXES ON TOBACCO PRODUCTS AND ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES IN GREECE: REVENUES AND ELASTICITIES. (in Greek)
E. Tsouma, F. Economou, I. Kountouri, Y. Panagopoulos, G. Skintzi. 2020. | ISBN: 978-960-341-125-3
Τhe present study offers a comprehensive analytical framework concerning excise taxes on tobacco products and alcoholic beverages, with emphasis on the corresponding tax revenues and the related elasticities. Given the importance of tax revenues and the specific product categories subject to excise taxation, this framework may act as an especially helpful tool for excise tax policy implementation by public authorities.
The study entails a wide-ranging reference to the definition of excise taxes, their distinctive features and the institutional and regulatory framework governing their enforcement. It incorporates the analysis of the most recent course of tax revenues in the investigated categories and a detailed presentation of the definition of the underlying theoretical elasticity concepts. The empirical analysis concerns the estimation of demand elasticities with respect to prices and income as well as the estimation of tax revenue sensitivity to changes in major macroeconomic aggregates, through the relevant elasticity and buoyancy measures. The study also investigates certain special issues, which are of particular relevance for the underlying subject, such as the role of affordability, smuggling and contraband, as well as a behavioural dimension.
Addressing the observed shortage in the existing literature, the study conducts an explicit and distinctive analysis for each of the two investigated product categories, i.e., tobacco products and alcoholic beverages. Where feasible, the analysis is conducted even for individual products from these two wide categories. In terms of methodologies and empirical estimations, extending the typically implemented technical procedures, the study applies sophisticated models that relate to the special features of the products under investigation and allow the exploration of the role of policy measures, while it differentiates between the short and the long run.
The rich and specialized evidence offered confirms all the major analytical choices made in the present study. Overall, combining the dimensions of the underlying analysis of excise taxes on tobacco products and alcoholic beverages leads to key findings concerning the implementation of the relevant policies. In order to acquire deep knowledge with regard to the entire scope of the referred dimensions, it is necessary to continuously monitor the associated developments and regularly revise and adjust to changes and new conditions, due to the dynamics characterizing several of these dimensions.