Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

Northlanders add to smoke tax take

By Jordan Bond
Northern Advocate·
20 Apr, 2017 11:02 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The Northland District Health Board area's 20,000 smokers make up around 4.3 per cent of the nation's total. Photo / File

The Northland District Health Board area's 20,000 smokers make up around 4.3 per cent of the nation's total. Photo / File

Northland's smokers are puffing away an estimated $73 million every year just in cigarette taxes.

The Northland District Health Board area's 20,000 smokers make up around 4.3 per cent of the nation's total - and an estimated $73.7m of the nation's $1.7 billion of annual tobacco taxes.

Figures from Quitline show the support service was contacted 2044 times by Northlanders in 2016 - around 1 in 10 smokers.

This January's figures - which is when taxes rise and many people make annual resolutions - showed a 17 per cent increase in the number of people contacting the service compared to January 2016.

This is around $3700 per year for the average smoker, or $7400 per couple - just in taxes. Around 75 per cent of the cost of cigarettes is tax, including GST.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A $20 pack a day smoker now pays more than $7000 a year in total.

While the Ministry of Health said price increases were the most effective discouragement for smokers to continue, a leading economist says annually raising tobacco taxes is "not justifiable".

Dr Eric Crampton, head of research at think tank The New Zealand Initiative, said there were a number of issues with the taxes. These included the Government's disputed estimate of the public health costs of smoking, the effectiveness of price increases as discouragement, and the effect of rising costs on poorer households.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"[The tax increases] are not justifiable. The harmful effects on poor households who continue to smoke are so large relative to the number of people who might stop smoking based on it," Dr Crampton said.

Treasury admitted in 2012 tobacco taxes may already cover the costs it imposes on the Government.

"Further increases in tobacco excise may not be justified," Treasury said in the report.
Since then the tobacco tax take has increased almost $500m.

The Government spent around $61.7m nationwide on programmes helping people stop smoking or not to start in the first place, less than 4 per cent of total tobacco tax revenue.

This money goes to stop smoking medicines and aids, including nicotine replacement patches, district health boards, organisations including Quitline, other community-based services, and campaigns, among other initiatives.

Ministry of Health spokesman Sam Kunowski said the control interventions have had a "significant impact on smoking rates and tobacco consumption over the last decade".

He said daily smoking rates have fallen from 18.3 per cent to 14.2 per cent in the last decade, and total consumption of tobacco has fallen 25 per cent between 2010 and 2015.
Mr Kunowski did not directly respond when asked if the Ministry of Health had any plans to increase the amount spent on its tobacco control programmes.

The Government has announced e-cigarettes containing nicotine will be made legal to sell, but not until late next year.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northern Advocate

Northern Advocate

'Economic growth is key': Luxon discusses Northland's potential with iwi

Northern Advocate

Northland businesses unite for CCTV initiative to combat crime

Northern Advocate

Two charged with neglect 10 years after 4yo's death in Kaikohe


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northern Advocate

'Economic growth is key': Luxon discusses Northland's potential with iwi
Northern Advocate

'Economic growth is key': Luxon discusses Northland's potential with iwi

The PM praised Māori businesses for investing and creating jobs despite challenges.

17 Jul 06:02 AM
Northland businesses unite for CCTV initiative to combat crime
Northern Advocate

Northland businesses unite for CCTV initiative to combat crime

17 Jul 04:00 AM
Two charged with neglect 10 years after 4yo's death in Kaikohe
Northern Advocate

Two charged with neglect 10 years after 4yo's death in Kaikohe

17 Jul 02:17 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP