Philip Morris International (PMI) in a budget submission called for raising taxes on its cigarettes as a means to encourage smokers to quit or switch to less harmful products, The Telegraph said.

PMI, which has declared a smoke-free future as a company goal, said it supported cigarette tax hikes in a four-page letter to Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, the newspaper reported on its website.
Switching from PMI’s cigarettes to its reduced risk products would raise the tobacco company’s share of sales, according to The Telegraph. The current price for a 20-pack of PMI’s Marlboro flagship brand is GBP 9.60 (EUR 11.10), of which GBP 7.10 goes to the government as excise duty and value-added tax, the newspaper said. A GBP 7 pack of 20 Marlboro cartridges for the iQOS tobacco heating device is taxed at only GBP 2.94.