Government revenue from tobacco duty falls by 15 percent

packets of cigarettes on a shop counter
© ANP / Robin Utrecht
  • The Dutch government received 2.6 billion euros in tobacco excise duty in 2025.
  • The rate of excise duty on cigarettes has doubled since the start of 2020.
  • Fewer people are smoking, and smokers are more likely to buy tobacco products abroad.

Government revenue from tobacco excise duty fell by 15 percent in 2025 to 2.6 billion euros compared with 2024. Revenue from tobacco duty reached an all-time high of 3.1 billion euros in 2023, but has fallen by almost one-fifth since then. Tobacco excise duty now brings around the same amount into the public purse as it did in 2016. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this on the basis of provisional figures for 2025.

The duty payable on tobacco products has been raised several times in recent years. However, this has not led to an increase in the revenue generated. This is because fewer people now smoke, and those who do smoke are more likely to buy cigarettes abroad. The government receives no revenue at all from those purchases.

Duty on cigarettes has doubled since early 2020

Tobacco duty is levied on cigarettes, rolling tobacco, pipe tobacco and cigars. According to figures from the Netherlands Tax Administration (Belastingdienst), cigarettes accounted for over 80 percent of all revenue from tobacco duty in 2025. The remainder comes mainly from smoking tobacco. Cigars account for one percent. E-cigarettes (also known as vapes) are not subject to tobacco duty.

Tobacco products have been made more expensive in order to discourage people from smoking. Tobacco duty rose particularly sharply in April 2023 and April 2024. The minimum rate for cigarettes is 390.42 euros per thousand units, which works out at 7.81 euros on a packet of 20 cigarettes. This means that duty on cigarettes has doubled since the start of 2020. Duty on smoking tobacco has tripled over the same period, from 114.65 euros per kilogram to 346.98 euros per kilogram.

Fewer and fewer people are smoking

In 2015, 1 in 4 people aged 12 or over said they smoked occasionally. By 2025, that figure had fallen to around 1 in 6.

In particular, the share of people who smoke every day has fallen, from 18 percent in 2015 to 12 percent in 2025. The share of occasional (non-daily) smokers has hovered at around 6 percent for many years. The use of e-cigarettes and vapes is not included in these figures.

More smokers buying tobacco products abroad

As well as fewer people smoking, smokers are increasingly buying cigarettes abroad. In 2024, around 12 percent of smokers aged 18 or over said they often or always bought tobacco products abroad. In 2020, 5 percent said they did this.

In 2024, 42 percent of smokers said they bought tobacco products abroad once or several times a year, compared with 26 percent in 2020.

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