Call to hike taxes further to stub out smoking labelled 'ludicrous'

A Palmerston North tobacconist believes that if the Government were to heed calls to hike prices again, the market would be driven further underground and more people might grow their own.

Health advocates and smoking cessation groups are calling for the Government to continue with its annual price hikes for cigarettes, but want the tax increases to go from 10 per cent to 20 per cent annually.

With the goal of achieving a smokefree Aotearoa by 2025, the groups do not believe what the Government has done so far is enough. The programme of tax increases finished this year.

Since annual tobacco tax increases took effect in 2013, the number of cigarettes sold in New Zealand has fallen by 23 per cent, and the proportion of the population smoking regularly has fallen to a record low of under 17 per cent.

Buttbucket owner Richard Green said the proposed increases in tax was "ludicrous", because people would keep smoking and would find other avenues to satisfy addictions.

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