Smokers see red over tax increase

Rotorua man Ray Katting is "ropable" about the latest tobacco tax increase. PHOTO/BEN FRASER

With the new year comes the third tobacco tax increase in three years, hiking the average price of a pack of cigarettes up to about $20.

While a smoking cessation service says the increasing tax is likely to persuade many smokers to give up, some Rotorua locals are saying that won't be the case.
Rotorua man Ray Katting has been smoking for 48 years and said the latest tax increase has left him livid.

"What are these taxes going towards? Increasing the price is not enough to get people to quit, all it will do is create a black market for smokes."

Mr Katting said he didn't think New Zealand would ever be smokefree.

"There will be a point where people will stop buying from shops, but that doesn't mean they will be kicking the habit. I don't really care about 10 per cent increase, what makes me angry is being forced into giving up."

Quitline chief executive Paula Snowden said January was the busiest month for the organisation.

"We know a price increase prompts hundreds of smokers to try to quit the addiction... We need to keep introducing them in a way that hits the tobacco industry in their back pocket.

"We welcome the Government's commitment to further tobacco tax increases in 2015 and 2016 and encourage it to impose even further increases over future years."

City Focus Suprette manager Manpreet Birring said since January 1 he had increased the price of cigarettes by $1.

"I haven't got the official price list yet so I've just been telling customers each pack is an extra $1.

"We have had a lot of people commenting on how expensive it is and we sold out of the cheaper cigarettes in the first couple of days."

Many commenters on the Rotorua Daily Post Facebook page said the 10 per cent tax increase was more of an annoyance than an incentive to give up.

"There will be a tiny per cent of smokers who do give up because of the raised prices but that's only a drop in the ocean. A big majority of smokers will be more annoyed before quitting even crosses their mind," one commenter said.

Others said the tax increase would not stop smokers buying cigarettes, but take money away from other bills such as food and clothing.

"Hiking up the prices of tobacco isn't going to stop people from smoking. If you want to smoke badly enough, you will pay the higher prices, sacrificing shopping money or power. If u want to help our country get healthy lower the price of healthy stuff and increase the price of bad stuff. It doesn't make sense to have high taxes on tobacco but not on alcohol."