Tobacco News

Smokers will be paying more for tobacco from tomorrow, and the price is going to keep on rising.
The government brought legislation to parliament to raise the excise duty on tobacco, meaning cigarettes are set to become even more expensive.

Parliament has gone into extraordinary urgency to debate the just-tabled legislation that will introduce a three step price rise in tobacco products over the next two years.

There will be an immediate 10% price increase for cigarettes followed by another 10% every January up until 2012, meaning the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes will be raised by about $1 to around $11.

Loose tobacco products are set to become even more expensive, facing a 24% price increase next January followed by two further 10% increases in following years.

Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia, a strong anti-smoking campaigner, says the move aims to save lives and is a clear signal the government is serious about reducing the death toll from smoking.

She says the move will put the price of cigarettes up enough to save hundreds of lives.

Turia told parliament today that one in five New Zealanders are regular smokers, among Maori women the figure rises to one in two.She says putting up the price is a powerful tool to stop smoking and will force smokers to cut back their habit.

“It’s very simple. All smokers who buy tobacco will face the price rises. The more someone smokes, the more they pay, and the bigger the incentive for them to quit.”

“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.”

A survey published in January this year found half of New Zealanders wanted smoking to be banned outright by 2020.

The 2008 Health and Lifestyles Survey compiled nationwide interviews from the Health Sponsorship Council of 1608 people, including 422 smokers, and was published in the NZ Medical Journal.

It found 50% of people agreed cigarettes should no longer be sold in New Zealand in 10 years, 30% disagreed and 20% neither agreed nor disagreed. Of the smokers surveyed, 26% agreed and 55% disagreed.

Labour has 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.

ACT MP Sir Roger Douglas says 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%, then you would fix it,” he said.

Price hike praised

The Quit Group says it’s 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 says.

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) says 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.

“We’ve seen that the tobacco industry has an ability to take smaller margins and absorb tax increases, and we hope they do not exploit this opportunity to encourage quitting.

“The upside of a staggered approach is that it will give smokers and the support systems around them the time to prepare for quit attempts on a large scale.”

The Salvation Army has 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 says.

Source: Newstalk ZB/ONE News/NZPA