Excise taxes are an example of what have been traditionally called indirect taxes: taxes that are imposed on a transaction rather than directly on a person or corporation. Excise taxes are narrow-based taxes, as compared with broad-based taxes on consumption such as a general sales tax, a value-added tax, or an expenditure tax. Excise taxes can be collected at various stages, including the point of production, the wholesale level, or the retail level. They are also known as selective sales taxes or differential commodity taxes.

አዲሱ የኤክሳይዝ ታክስ አዋጅ ቁጥር 1186/2012 እየተሰራበት መሆኑ ይታወቃል፡፡ ይህንን አዋጅ ለማስፈጸም የኢፌዴሪ የገንዘብ ሚኒስቴር ስለኤክሳይዝ ታክስ አዋጅ አፈፃፀም መመሪያ ቁጥር 67/2013 ጸድቆ ከጥቅምት 6 ቀን 2013 ዓ.ም ጀምሮ በሥራ ላይ ይገኛል፡፡ በመሆኑም የዚህ ጽሁፍ ዓላማ በመመሪያው አንቀጽ 38 ላይ በጨው ላይ የሚከፈል የኤክሳይዝ ታክስን በተመለከተ የሰፈረውን ድንጋጌ ከአዋጁ አጠቃላይ ይዘትና መንፈስ አንጻር በጥቂቱ ለመዳሰስ ነው፡፡

በሀገራችን የኤክሳይዝ ታክስን በተመለከተ በሥራ ላይ የነበረው አዋጅ ቁጥር 307/2002 (እንደተሻሻለ) ተሽሮ በአዲስ የኤክሳይዝ አዋጅ ቁጥር 1186/2020 የተተካ ስለመሆኑ ይታወቃል፡፡ በመሆኑም ይህ ጽሁፍ ሁለቱ አዋጆች የኤክሳይዝ ታክስ የተጣለባቸው ዕቃዎችን፤ ታክሱን የመክፈል ግዴታን እና ታክሱ ስለሚሰላበት ስሌትን በተመለከተ ያስቀመጡትን ድንጋጌዎች ከጨው ምርት ጋር በተያያዘ በወፍ በረር ለማነጻጽር ነው፡፡

The House of Peoples Representatives has approved the infamous Excise Tax Proclamation (The Proclamation) last Thursday, February 13, 2020. Within hours from the approval of the proclamation, Ministry of Revenues have written a letter to manufacturers of excisable goods stating that the proclamation will be implemented starting from February 14, 2020, which in effect violates both the FDRE Constitution and Negarit Gazeta Establishment Proclamation. The proclamation has not yet been published in the Negarit Gazeta and there are notorious discrepancies between the Amharic and English versions. In addition, with no transition time given to the manufacturers, they are forced to prepare manual invoices, which separately shows the amount of excise tax payable in the transaction as the new law requires the amount of excise tax should be separately shown in the invoice.