China to levy consumption tax on e-cigarettes

China will levy a consumption tax on electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) from Nov. 1, 2022, the country's Ministry of Finance announced Tuesday.

The tax rate for the production and import of e-cigarettes is set at 36 percent, while that for wholesale business is 11 percent, the ministry said in a statement jointly released with the General Administration of Customs and State Taxation Administration.

The move aims to improve the consumption tax system and give better play to its role of encouraging healthy consumption, according to the statement.

To strengthen supervision over e-cigarettes, China issued a regulation for the industry earlier this year, which imposed license management for e-cigarette production, wholesale and retail entities, and banned setting up e-cigarette sales outlets near schools.