DJBC Arrests 641 Million Fake Cigarette Excise Until October 2023

Cigarette excise illustration (Photo: antara)

The Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC) of the Ministry of Finance has succeeded in arresting and taking action against 641 million cigarettes with fake excise stamps until October 2023.

According to Askolani's Director General of Customs and Excise, the most prosecutions were in East Java as many as 84 million cigarettes and 36 million cigarettes in Central Java.

From the study that has been carried out, the enforcement of excise stamps has succeeded in increasing cigarette production by around 5.3 percent and increasing the contribution of state revenues by 0.3 percent.

"So we really need legal cigarette distribution activities, lest the legal ones be defeated by the illegal ones, those who use the excise tape do not match, so we continue to consistently take action against this," said Askolani at the APBNKita press conference, last Friday, December 15.

Askolani said that apart from reducing the prevalence of cigarettes, the increase in CHT rates also took into account the cigarette industry as well as tobacco workers and cloves. The consistency of CHT acceptance is also a consideration in the increase in tariffs.

As is known, tobacco excise tariffs (CHT) will rise again in 2024, as an implication of the policy of increasing CHT rates for the second year in a row set by President Joko Widodo's administration at the end of 2022.

As for 2022, the government has set a tobacco excise tariff (CHT) or cigarette excise which will increase by an average of 10 percent in 2023 and 2024, while for CHT electronic cigarettes an average of 15 percent and other tobacco processing results an average of 6 percent.

Meanwhile, the machine kretek cigarettes (SKM) I and II on average rose between 11.5 percent - 11.75 percent, while the engine white gauge (SPM) I and II rose by about 11 percent, and the hand-table kretek cigarettes (SKT) on average were 5 percent.

This provision is contained in the Minister of Finance Regulation (PMK) No. 191/2022 concerning the Second Amendment to PMK 192/PMK.010/2021 concerning Tobacco Product Excise Tariffs (CHT) in the form of cigarettes, cigars, leaf cigarettes or klobots, and sliced tobacco.

Based on our State Budget report, CHT is the largest revenue to excise, reaching Rp188.9 trillion as of December 12, 2023, out of a total of Rp256.5 trillion.