British American Tobacco Japan Ltd. is asking for a higher tax on cigarettes as part of Japan’s fiscal 2022 tax system reform, reports The Japan Times.

The company submitted the request in writing to a group of lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, informed sources said.
The unusual move comes as Japan is set to raise its tobacco tax only for heat-not-burn tobacco products in October 2022, which is expected to make some of these products more expensive than cigarettes.
British American Tobacco Japan is concerned that this would have a negative impact on its strategy of shifting its focus from cigarettes to heat-not-burn products, the report said. The company is also calling for a tax on heat-not-burn tobacco to be increased more slowly than that for cigarettes in the medium to long run.
As part of the fiscal year 2018 tax reform, the government decided to increase the cigarette tax by 1 JPY (USD 0.009) per cigarette in each of 2018, 2020 and 2021, and the tax on heat-not-burn products in five stages from 2018 to 2022.