French tobacco retailers mobilize against tax increases

French tobacco retailers are conducting a week of mobilization from September 7 to 11 to protest fiscal policies that they claim threaten the survival of their industry. Serdar Kaya, president of the Confédération nationale des buralistes, stated that the movement aims to demonstrate that professionals will not be silenced.

The confederation is presenting two primary demands: a freeze on cigarette prices and an end to the automatic indexation of tobacco prices to inflation. Retailers argue that increasing taxes to compensate for falling tax revenues is a mistake that inadvertently fuels the illegal cigarette market and benefits criminal organizations.

The mobilization is expected to conclude in Vernon, Eure. The group has received support from Marine Le Pen, who expressed intention to support a freeze on tobacco taxes.