The government's annual 10 per cent hike on cigarettes and tobacco was most keenly felt among the country's poorest, resulting in a higher cost of living for beneficiaries and Māori.
Stats NZ figures show the cost of living for beneficiaries rose 0.6 per cent in the three months through March, and rose 0.4 per cent for Māori. The national average increase in the cost of living for the period was 0.1 per cent.
The government department said that was primarily due to more expensive cigarettes and tobacco, which typically account for 4.1 per cent of a beneficiary's household spending, 4.8 per cent of spending in a Māori household and 2.5 per cent across all households.
"One cigarette cost about $1.50 in the March 2019 quarter, up from about 54 cents a decade ago, partly a result of regular excise tax increases over the past 10 years," consumer prices manager Gael Price said in a statement.
Tobacco excise has increased annually since by 10 per cent plus inflation since the previous government introduced the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 target in 2011. In December, officials cited their impact on Māori and Pacific households when advising the government not to extend the legislated increases when they end in 2020.