Government increases tobacco excise tax

[muppet]

Whew, glad I am not a smoker.

Government increases tobacco excise tax

$13.30 pack to cost $14.40 then $17 in two years

By JOHN HARTEVELT - Stuff Last updated 17:15 28/04/2010

LATEST: In a shock move, the Government has this evening taken Parliament into extraordinary urgency to pass a bill increasing tobacco excise tax by more than 33 percent over two years.
Tax on roll-your-own tobacco will also increase by 50 per cent over two years.
The Government expects the Bill will be passed into law tonight.
"The move will put the price of cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco up enough to save hundreds of lives," said Associate Minister of Health Tariana Turia.
The bill pushes the excise tax on tobacco up in three steps over two years. It is proposed that the excise on cigarettes will rise immediately by 10 per cent with a further 10 per cent increase next January and a third increase of 10 per cent in January 2012.
If the tax increase is passed on to consumers by tobacco companies, a typical pack of 25 cigarettes will rise immediately from $13.30 to around $14.40 tomorrow. By 2012, a pack of 25 would cost $17 while a typical 30 gram pouch of tobacco costing $21.30 today will rise to $25.50 overnight and to $29.80 by 2012.
There will also be a 24 per cent increase in the excise tax on loose tobacco followed by 10 per cent increases in 2011 and 2012, adding up to just over 50 percent over two years.
"We know that putting up the price is a powerful tool to reduce smoking," Mrs Turia said.
"It forces people to cut back, but more importantly it provides a strong incentive for smokers to quit and helps dissuade young people from ever starting to smoke."
Mrs Turia said the changes represented a huge investment in the future of the country.
Helping smokers to quit was a priority of the Government and a health target.
When passed into legislation tonight, the price increases will take immediate effect.
Mrs Turia has just finished her first speech commending the bill and Labour's health spokesman Ruth Dyson has indicated the opposition will support it as "a huge step forward".

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/poli...cco-excise-tax

[muppet]

Just been watching the discussion in Parliament and there are only about 20 members in attendance. Where are the other 92 members?
Those 20 must all be non smokers.
What a sham.

[Viking]

Well if the tenants stop smoking that has some positives for us. Cleaner houses for one and more money to pay rent. Double the amount I'd say.

[muppet]

Government increases tobacco excise tax
By JOHN HARTEVELT and NZPA - Stuff Last updated 22:00 28/04/2010

LATEST: Parliament has given overwhelming support to a tobacco tax increase that will raise the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes by about a dollar to around $11, effective from midnight, with two more hikes in the pipeline.
After a debate under urgency tonight the bill was passed into law on a vote of 118-4 with all parties except ACT giving it full backing. ACT split its vote with one MP supporting the bill - John Boscawen - and the other four opposing it.
It has put in place three excise duty increases of 10 percent - one at midnight, the next on January 1 and the third on January 1 2012.
Loose tobacco used by pipe smokers and to make roll your own cigarettes is being socked with a 14 percent increase immediately to bring it into line with cigarettes, and then the 10 percent rises that affect all tobacco products.
Because the increases are cumulative, prices will rise by about 33 percent over the next two years.
When the final increase takes place a packet of 20 cigarettes will cost around $14 and a 30 gram pouch of loose tobacco about $30.
The Government, which gets about $1 billion a year in tobacco excise, can expect to gather an estimated $200 million more.
Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia, a strong anti-smoking campaigner, introduced the bill and said the debate on it was going to be about life and death.
"We know that putting up the price is a powerful tool to reduce smoking," she said.
"It forces people to cut back, but more importantly it provides a strong incentive for smokers to quit and helps dissuade young people from over starting to smoke."
The Quit Group said it was preparing to see the number of people contacting Quitline for help to quit smoking to double or even triple.
"The last time we saw a significant taxation increase for tobacco was back in May 2000. Overnight we saw our call volumes almost triple from 6000 to 16,000 calls per month," Quit Group chief executive Paula Snowden said.
"We fully expect to see an increase in quit attempts, which is great, and our advisors are there to help people using the tax increases as a prompt for thinking about those other, more sustainable reasons for overcoming their addiction."
While it took on average six serious attempts to break the habit for good, those who contacted Quitline were five times more likely to succeed, she said.
Mrs Turia said 21 percent of New Zealanders over 15 were smokers and tobacco caused 5000 deaths a year.
"For too many years we've turned a blind eye to this...the price of cigarettes has plateaued and the reduction in the number of smokers has stalled," she said.
"Helping smokers quit is a priority of this government and one of our health targets."
Labour supported the move, with associate health spokesman Iain Lees-Galloway saying the party had consistently argued for measures that encouraged people to quit smoking.
"Sadly, legislation to increase the price of tobacco does not address issues such as point of sale advertising," he said.
"Tariana Turia says she personally supports removing point of sale tobacco advertising, so why isn't it happening?"
ACT MP Sir Roger Douglas said the Government was already getting about $1 billion a year in tobacco excise, and the increase would disproportionately impact on poor people.
"You have to weigh up the benefits that might or might not flow from this with individual freedom," he said.
"The 'I know what's best for you' mentality is getting out of hand...our flight from individual responsibility never ends."
Sir Roger said that if the Government believed that raising the price of tobacco really worked, it should increase it by much more.
"Why not put it up 600 percent, then you would fix it," he said.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) said it expected some smokers would quit in response to the tax increase.
"However a bigger increase would have resulted in great numbers of smokers quitting," said ASH director Ben Youdan.
Last year the tobacco industry discounted prices heavily by around $1 per packet, so even with this increase we are treading water in terms of tobacco affordability, he said.
The Salvation Army said it applauded the move, but wished the Government had the courage to act as harshly against alcohol.
"We hope a government willing to recognise the harm tobacco causes will have the courage to more heavily tax alcohol, which has even wider community costs and detriments," Salvation Army spokesperson Major Campbell Roberts said.
The Drug Foundation said the decision on tobacco put the prime minister's rejection of an excise increase for alcohol in stark contrast.
"International and local experience consistently shows the effectiveness of excise tax increases on changing smokers' behaviour - it helps current smokers cut down and deters potential new smokers from starting," foundation executive director Ross Bell said.
The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners welcomed the excise tax, saying it would improve the health of many people.
Despite progress in tobacco control, more than one in five New Zealanders still smoke tobacco regularly and smoking prevalence was much higher for Pacific peoples (28 percent) and Maori (44 percent), the college said.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/poli...cco-excise-tax

[EGU 591]

what a joke, I'm a smoker who has been waiting for a real hike in the price to assist me in quitting, this is a start but to spread it over three years is a joke,double the price overnight !!!!
they dont want to many mugs giving up just more tax rolling in.

I never thought I would ever agree with that traitor roger douglas,,sad day all round

[whitt]

Health minister on Tv last night said they wanted to double / triple price overnight but had to tone it down to get it thru parliment.

At least it is a start, any rise is good.

The non smoking tax payers should not have to pay for the burden on society. Make them Pay and hike the price .

[Tan]

Well if the tenants stop smoking that has some positives for us. Cleaner houses for one and more money to pay rent. Double the amount I'd say.

And if they keep smoking & can't afford the rent?

[muppet]

And also if the Govt changes its mind and also decides to raise excise duty on alcohol.
Ahhhhh rents may become a thing of the past.

[donna]

Predominately its the poor (Government beneficiaries) that smoke isn't it? So the Government are to end up taking back more of their beneficiaries $$.

Here's a thought - why didn't the Government offer to put the increase into a Fund for smoking related illnesses? At least then the increases are seen as a direct benefit to helping those affected by smoking - rather than just a revenue generating exercise.

cheers,

Donna

[muppet]

And in Australia.

Plainly, cigarette packets get the stub

• Sid Maher
• From: The Australian
• April 29, 2010 12:00AM
• CIGARETTES will be sold in plain packages from January 2012 as Kevin Rudd introduces the world's most draconian anti-smoking laws, in a move likely to spark a legal challenge from multinational tobacco companies.

The move, said to be a world first, is expected to be accompanied by a hike in the tobacco tax in the budget, as the Rudd government moves to drive down smoking rates to 10 per cent of the population within the next eight years.
Part of the increased excise could be used to offset some of the $5.4 billion in incentives the Prime Minister handed to premiers as part of the health reform package agreed to this month by every state except Western Australia.
The new laws will prohibit the use of tobacco industry logos, colours, brand imagery or promotional text on all packaging of tobacco products.
Under the new laws, brand names and product names will have to be displayed in standard colour, font style and position.
The government is planning the measure to reduce the attractiveness of the packaging to young people in a push to further cut the smoking rate.
The measure has been strongly opposed by the tobacco companies, which have foreshadowed legal action, arguing that enforced plain packaging breaches trademark laws and amounts to confiscation of commercial property.
International tobacco companies fear that if the measure is passed in Australia, it may spread to other countries.
The move was recommended by the government's National Preventative Health Taskforce, which is also pushing for a $6.50 price rise on a packet of cigarettes over three years, saying this would cut the number of smokers nationwide by one million within a decade.
This would help the federal government to save some of the $31bn a year that smoking costs the community.
Anti-smoking measures such as bans on smoking in bars and advertising prohibitions have cut the number of smokers from 30.5 per cent of the population over age 14 in 1988 to 16.6 per cent in 2007.
But smoking rates remain higher among people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, including 50 per cent of indigenous Australians, 38 per cent of the unemployed and 32 per cent of people with a mental illness.
As part of the new measures, the government will develop and test package designs to make cigarette packets less appealing, particularly to the young.
The government says the current packaging designs for cigarettes reduce the effectiveness of the graphic health warnings displayed on tobacco products.
The government's move has been opposed by powerful US interests, including the US Chamber of Commerce, a Washington-based business lobby group, which made a submission to the government last year against the move.
But international bodies including the World Health Organisation have pushed for plain-packaging regimes, arguing that they may increase the effectiveness of health warnings.
Tim Wilson, an intellectual property expert from the Institute of Public Affairs, said the government could have to compensate tobacco companies up to $3bn for the loss of intellectual property rights if the measure went ahead.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/poli...-1225859624218

[donna]

Plain packaging for Australia - they go one better than us!

Just heard the Rudd Govt have gone one better with plain packaging on all cigarettes by 2012.

Wow! We must follow suit aye.

and they have just raised the price by another 25% geez they are way ahead of us!

Cheers,

Donna

[Perry]

And The Point Is?

The one that's been missed? Douglas was succinct,
if a little abstruse. Really the government should not
care one iota about how people choose to live their
personal lives and slowly kill themselves.

But they do, and not because of altruistic reasons!
Simply because it costs the social welfare budget.
Nothing more. Hypocrites.
.

[egan123]

We know cigs are killers, which means there fatal to smoke. The government is no different than DRUG DEALERS, they all make money from peoples addictions and misery, just like P dealers, dope dealers, and heroin dealers. No different, exactly the same infact. If any society believes as strongly as ours does that they truly want to save lives, then prohibit them, or, at the very least, if you can't smoke them in the mall, you shouldn't be allowed to SELL them in the mall. Any where tobacco is not permitted to be smoked, then they shouldn't be sold in those areas. But they don't wnt to do that, WHY NOT?

[sparxNZ]

I recently watched a documentary about tobacco here in Queensland - it was based on a very large meta-study.
It concluded that smoking costs any government roughly 4 times in health system costs what it earns them in taxes.
about 70% of all occupied hospital beds are occupied by someone with a tobacco related illness in Queensland.

In my opinion everyone has the right to smoke as long as it has no negative impact on anyone else be it physical or financial or whatever, so what I would propose is this.....

The price of a packet of cigarettes increases by $2 a month for the next two years, after which time the importation and sale of tobacco becomes against the law - all the additional revenue goes directly into subsidizing quit schemes and financing anti smoking campaigns.

After the banning of importation and sale, anyone who wishes to continue to smoke is permitted to grow and cure their own tobacco for personal use - the illicit sale of which is subject to severe punishment. (it is already legal to do this you can buy tobacco growing and curing kits at home brew shops)

Ten years after the ban on importation and sale public health care ceases to provide any services for smoking related illnesses, the cessation of these services would be widely publicized for several years prior to it taking effect.
This would make the smoking of tobacco a habit of only the die-hard (excuse the pun).

I think that this would be a fair way of dealing with the issue because all smokers get unlimited support to assist them in quitting, die hard smokers get free tobacco and the rest of New Zealand no longer has to bear the massive financial burden on its health system caused by these people and their selfish habit.

Just a thought.
Matt

[Tan]

What about tourism? And immigration?