The Minister for Finance has increased taxation on cigarettes, cider and petrol, but reduced betting tax in today's Budget. Charlie McCreevy announced an increase in the rate of VAT from 20% to 21% from 1 March. This will give €194m to the Government finances in 2002.
Ten pence will be added to the price of cigarettes from midnight tonight, bringing the cost of a packet to £3.94. Some commentators had been predicting an increase of up to 79p.
A pint of cider will increase in price by 21 pence, yielding an estimated €33.6m for the Exchequer next year. This move will bring cider tax in line with the tax levied on beer.
Betting duty will reduce from 5% to 2% from 1 May. This move will be welcomed by the betting industry, who had threatened to move some operations offshore.
Tax on unleaded and leaded petrol will increase by 5 pence a litre from midnight tonight. Tax on diesel will increase by 5 pence per litre, but the price of diesel with sulphur content above 50ppm will rise by another 5 pence per litre from 1 March.
