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Last Updated: Jan 31st, 2007 - 10:58:43 |
Extra $1.50 tax on cigarettes urged
Feb 16, 2006, 15:54
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Smokers will have to suck in a $1.50 price rise after the next Budget if anti-tobacco campaigners get their way. Ash and the Smokefree Coalition presented a submission to Parliament's finance and expenditure committee yesterday calling for "substantial" tax increases on tobacco. Ash director Becky Freeman said there had been no tax increase for six years and it was becoming "cheaper" for the country's smokers – 24 per cent of the adult population. Ash has called for a minimum price rise of $1.50 on tailormade cigarettes. The Social Development Ministry last year asked the Government to consider increasing tax on alcohol and tobacco in a bid to improve public health. Ms Freeman said previous tax rises, the latest in 2000, had resulted in reduced cigarette sales. Ash cited overseas studies in its submission, which showeda 10 per cent tax increase results in a 4 per cent drop in smoking by adults and a drop of up to 15 per cent by young people. The watchdogs also want tax increases on roll-your-own cigarettes, to stop consumers switching after price rises on tailormade cigarettes, as has happened in the past. Tobacco taxes should be increased annually to at least match inflation, Ms Freeman said."There's no magic bullet, but it's the single most important thing you could do," she told the committee. Smokefree Coalition director Mark Peck, a former Labour MP, urged the committee to recommend the tax rises to the Government. "Smoking rates now are as high as they were prior to the tobacco taxes going on. Over time, because there hasn't been an increase in taxation, it's become cheaper for families." British American Tobacco spokesman Carrick Graham said the industry was already heavily taxed. The tobacco firm paid $750 million tax a year. Further tax increases would encourage the burgeoning black market. "It's beating an old drum which isn't going to give them the results they want. They need to be aware of the growing influence of black market tobacco. It is a very serious issue.
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