Looking at the tax levies of different countries throughout history, Looking at the tax levies of different states throughout history, excise duties have imposed themselves as one of the first types of taxation. There are two types of taxes in the Republic of Croatia: direct taxes and indirect taxes. The category of direct taxes includes income tax and profit tax and the category of indirect costs includes excise duties. Excise duties include a general sales tax and a special sales tax that occurs as a specific subsytem of sales tax. The obligation to calculate excise duties is introduced for a certain type (group) of products, such as alcohol and alcoholic beverages, tobacco, energy and electricity, at the time when these products are placed on the territory of the Republic of Croatia. In addition to excise duties, there are also special taxes on motor vehicles, coffee and soft drinks, as well as motor liability insurance premiums and casco insurance premiums for road vehicles. With the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the system of the European Union, the system of excise taxation has been harmonized with EU provisions. Excise duties in the Republic of Croatia as a form of public benefits, after value added tax, represent the second largest revenue of the state budget.