“The last annual tobacco tax increase of 11.5%, on 1 January this year, took an average pack of 25 cigarettes to over $41. “AVCA does not support tobacco tax hikes. Too often they’ve been used as a revenue gathering exercise and always hit the vulnerable the hardest. They’re terribly regressive and I would argue have had little impact on the likes of Maori with 31% still smoking. “Sure, we’ve seen New Zealand’s overall smoking rates fall to a record 12.5% low, but that’s largely due to education and the arrival of vaping.” “We support the Government investing in campaigns via its own Health Promotion Agency to encourage smokers to switch to vaping.”
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Good News Tobacco Tax Not Hiked Again
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