Big tobacco companies face tax reckoning in Japan on next-gen products

Tokyo

JAPANESE lawmakers are just weeks away from proposing changes that could erode tax advantages for Big Tobacco's new hope: heat-not-burn products that deliver a nicotine hit without all the smoke and tar of traditional cigarettes.

Changes in Japan may also serve as a template for legislators in other countries as global sales accelerate towards an estimated US$15 billion by 2021. Any shift will be important for Philip Morris International Inc, British American Tobacco Plc and Japan Tobacco Inc, which profit from lower taxes and have invested heavily in the new products in Japan.