Liquid type e-cigarettes. (Yonhap)
SEJONG, Oct. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s customs agency said Thursday that tax-exempt nicotine solutions accounted for the largest share of last year’s overseas direct purchases of nicotine solutions.
The number of overseas direct purchase cases for nicotine solution extracted from tobacco roots or stems and synthetic nicotine solution, both of which are exempt from the individual consumption tax, totaled 13,393 last year, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.
The number of such cases stood at 540 in 2017 and 359 in 2018.
In contrast, the number of overseas direct purchase cases for nicotine solution extracted from tobacco leaves, which is subject to the individual consumption tax, remained low at 160 last year.
In other words, the number of overseas direct purchases of tax-exempt nicotine solutions was more than 80 times higher than that of tax-imposed nicotine solutions.
The principal ingredient in nicotine solutions comes in three types – tobacco leaves, tobacco roots or stems, and synthetic nicotine.
Under the current Tobacco Business Act, only the nicotine solution extracted from tobacco leaves is recognized as a cigarette.
The nicotine solution extracted from tobacco roots or stems and the synthetic nicotine solution are exempt from the individual consumption tax.
The South Korean government recently announced a plan to include pseudo-nicotine solutions such as the ones extracted from tobacco roots or stems and synthetic nicotine in the category of cigarettes, in order to realize tax fairness and justice.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
