KIEV, Nov. 11 – President Viktor Yushchenko has vetoed a law passed by Parliament to increase tobacco excise taxes.

Yushchenko said the increase in tobacco excise taxes stipulated in the law redoubles the risk of tobacco smuggling from neighboring countries, and may lead to a reduction in jobs in the industry.

As reported earlier, the Ukrainian parliament in October 2009 upped tobacco excise taxes: specific excise duty was increased by 25-33.3%, while ad valorem tax grew to 36% from 20%.