Dear fellow smokers, let us have a bad news. The Government is going to raise the tobacco tax again!
Starting today, the (tobacco excise) for tobacco duty per cigarette will rise from $0.61726 (62 cents) to $0.69858 (70 cents), up as much as 13%!
In addition, the tax on other tobacco products will also rise from $771.60 per kilogram to $901.39, an increase of 17%!
This means that the price of a 30-pack Winfield Blues, will rise from $32.50 today to $35.20, and a box will cost $2.70 more than it used to be!
Not only that, according to the Budget released in May this year, tobacco taxes will continue to rise over the next three years!
Increase 12.5% each year on September 1!
As for how much a pack of cigarettes at that time, Xiao Wei has not been clear, anyway is more expensive than now a lot of money!
In addition to expensive cigarettes, smoking can lead to other increases in expenses, such as insurance premiums. The same $800000 policy costs $80 a month for an old 35-year-old smoker and $40 a month for a non-smoker, double the price difference!
In addition, smoking can also bring some hidden costs, such as health. It is well known that smoking is harmful to health. Smoking remains one of Australia`s biggest health killers, with 15500 Australians dying every year, according to Cancer Council.
Therefore, the government also increased tobacco tax in order to reduce smoking. Of course, such measures can also bring huge taxes to the government. In 2016-2017, the government alone earned A $10.69 billion in tobacco taxes! The government is expected to add another A $360 million in tobacco taxes over the next four years.
As a result, the Lib Democratic Senate, David Leyonhjelm, said it was cruel to increase tobacco taxes. "smokers pay at least 17 times the cost of health hazards to other taxpayers," he said.
"the government has banned the sale of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes, although it is 95 percent less dangerous than cigarettes," he added. The rise in tobacco taxes, the ban on e-cigarettes, and the simple packaging of (plain packaging), have led to the continued development of the huge black tobacco market. "
Since the establishment of Australian Border Force, more than 400 tons of illegal tobacco have been seized.
Last month, police seized A $14 million worth of illegally imported cigarettes from a Melbourne factory, as well as a black-market A $9 million tobacco hideout.
Whether or not the tobacco tax rise is good or not, it is certain that smokers will spend more money later on, regardless of the increase in the price of cigarettes. Therefore, for their own wallet, but also for their own and family health, it is best to smoke less oh.
