The Budget sacrifices public health to the interests of=20 the tobacco industry, says the anti-smoking lobby=20 Jacques Magliolo reports=20
IncreaseS of 25 percent on cigarette taxes and nine=20 percent on beer are not high enough, the National=20 Council Against Smoking has commented on this year’s=20
“The new tobacco taxes continue to reflect a conflict=20 between the government’s fiscal policy and its health=20 policy,” said the Council’s Yusuf Saloojee.=20
When the government was forced to choose between the=20 interests of the tobacco manufacturers and public=20 health, sacrificing the latter was the soft option, he=20
Saloojee said the new tax rates were not prohibitive=20 enough. “The best way of reducing smoking among=20 children is to make cigarettes unaffordable,” he said.=20
The new rate effectively pushed up the price of a pack=20 of 20 cigarettes by an extra 17c, while drinkers will=20 pay another two cents for a dumpy of beer. The prices=20 of spirits such as whisky, brandy and gin have=20 increased by about 58c per 750ml bottle.
Over the past 20 years, cigarette excise duties have=20 decreased sharply in real terms. In 1960, excise duties=20 comprised more than 60 percent of the retail price of=20 cigarettes, compared to less than 25 percent today.=20 This meant that the real price of a packet of 20=20 cigarettes has fallen at a rate of one percent a year=20 since 1970. In 1994 cigarettes cost, after deducting=20 for inflation, 25 percent less than in 1970.
“To bring cigarette prices back to their 1970 levels=20 would require an excise tax increase of 65 percent,=20 which is almost four times the current increase,” said=20
In effect, the Department of Finance had reneged on its=20 1994 promise to increase tobacco taxes to 50 percent of=20 the retail price of cigarettes, he added.