May, 2016:

http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/cigarette-price-hike-will-see-kids-go-hungry—peters-2016052707#axzz49sTNDExW

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says steep increases in the tobacco tax will see children go without food as their parents pay more to smoke.

The tax will increase 10 percent a year for four years, making the cost of a packet rise from about $20 now to $30 in 2020.

Peters has slammed the move, saying it is an “attack on the working people of New Zealand” who have “so few pleasures now”.

“Frankly, if it’s a legal product, why are they slamming working people so hard on that matter,” Peters says.

“A lot of children will not be fed because of that.”

The measure has found support from the Heart Foundation, although spokesperson Louise Ryan says more needs to be done.

“I’m happy that we’ve got an increase but we are disappointed that it is only ten percent,” Ryan says.

“There is very clear evidence that increased taxing helps reduce tobacco rates.”

Labour has also welcomed the move, although Annette King says the extra $425 million in expected tax revenue needs to be spent wisely and not used to “make the deficit look better”.

She said it should be put back into helping people stop smoking and other public health programmes.

“I don’t want it to go into the consolidated fund for a tax cut. I want it to go into improving the health of New Zealanders,” King says.

“We shouldn’t let tobacco companies kill poor people.”

About 550,000 New Zealanders are daily smokers and it kills about 5000 people a year.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/80464770/manawatu-health-advocate-applauds-cigarette-tax-hike

Manawatu smokers are bracing for another three years of 10 per cent tax hikes, the Government’s strategy for stamping out the habit.

While many are applauding a move that will see the cigarette price-hikes continue, some wanted it to be higher.

Manawatu smoking cessation officers have said the price hikes could have been higher than the 10 per cent mark, which will bring the average cost of cigarettes from NZ$20 to NZ$30 by 2020.

The Government announced plans to extend the annual tax bump for cigarette sales this year.

Ten per cent tax increases on sales were set to finish next year, but Thursday’s Budget forecast it to continue until 2020.

Smokefree health promotion advisor Julie Beckett said the tax increases could have been slightly higher, to achieve the goal of having less than five per cent of the population smoking by 2025.

“There was talk that it needed to be up at the 20 per cent mark … at least it’s something,” Beckett said.

“But I’m really happy that they have put that in place for the next four years.”

About 16 per cent of New Zealanders smoke and about 30 per cent of Maori smoke.

Coupled with the suite of tobacco cessation initiatives country-wide, annual New Year’s increases would continue to be effective, Beckett said.

Associate Health Minister Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga said the increases were the “single most powerful tool to reduce smoking”.

“Previous excise increases reduced per capita tobacco consumption by around a quarter and prompted thousands of smokers to quit.”

Immediately after the last increase, Quitline was receiving about 200 to 300 per cent higher caller numbers, he said, about 250 to 300 calls a day.

Cost was one of the few drivers that encouraged people to quit, he said.

“What we know is that it encourages more people to call us, and enroll in our programme. And we know that the people in our programme have a good chance of quitting smoking.”

But not all are so enthusiastic.

Butt Bucket owner Richard Green questioned how far the Government would go before it realised it was hurting the “poverty stricken society”.

“People buying cigarettes and tobacco are low socio-economic. The ones [the government] hurt the most are the ones they want to help the most.”

“We don’t see that many people walking in in suits and ties.”

Green accepted smoking had health risks, but there was also a serious problem with obesity.

“Are we going out and taxing chocolate bars 1000 per cent?

“All it is doing is causing higher crime and higher poverty.”

Beckett said she was exceptionally proud that her 3-year-old grandson did not know what cigarettes were, as her son gave up smoking before the child was born.

“He found a butt and said ‘Kuia, what is this?’ I felt so happy that my [son] wasn’t smoking any more.”

Children who grew up with both parents smoking were more likely to smoke, she said.

She said Maori, Pasifika and pregnant women were a focus for smoking cessation officers.

“This is really what it’s all about … making it about the children.”

But the idea of getting to the 2025 smokefree goal was “a bit worrying”, so there would need to be a bit of a push, she said.

http://www.taxationinfonews.com/2016/05/tobacco-taxes-to-rise-by-40-percent-in-new-zealand/

New Zealand is aiming to eradicate smoking in the country by implementing a series of annual tax hikes.

In its budget plan released on May 26th the government of New Zealand announced that it will reinstate a new round of annual tax hikes on cigarettes and tobacco products.

From January 1st 2017 the rate of taxation on the sale of tobacco products will rise by 10 percentage points, with equal hikes set to take place on January 1st each year until 2020.

The extra tax collections will yield an extra NZD 425 million in tax revenues each year.

The new tax hikes are a continuation of a series of 10 percent increases which were enacted each year between 2012 and 2016.

It is currently estimated that approximately 15 percent of people in New Zealand are smokers, although the rate could be as high as 35 percent and 22 percent among Maori and Pacific people, respectively.

The New Zealand government currently has a goal of driving the national smoking rate to below 5 percent by the year 2025.

The New Zealand government released its annual budget plan Thursday, hitting hard smokers as well as industries that contribute to pollution, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Over the next four years, the government reportedly plans to hike tobacco taxes by 46 percent in a bid to eliminate smoking from the country by 2025.

Once the taxes are in place, a pack of 20 cigarettes will cost about 30 New Zealand dollars ($20). According to the AP, this trumps most countries in terms of pricing.

The tax plan was pushed by the Maori Party. The party’s co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell reportedly said it was the right thing to do, even if it would cost his constituents more money. It has been reported that indigenous Maori have a relatively high smoking rate.

“What I do know is that there are so many of our young women, because research tells us that, who are dying because of cancer,” Flavell said.

“I’m happy in my heart. If I can save more than one life, I would have done my job,” he added.

In an attempt to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, the budget plans to eliminate a subsidy for polluting businesses that was introduced to help them after the 2008 global financial crisis.

Following this, these businesses will need to pay more for releasing polluting gases.

Although the budget includes increases in spending for health, low-income housing and schools, the opposition says the government has failed to address a housing crisis in parts of the country.

“What was needed today was a clear plan to build thousands of affordable homes, lift wages and fix our creaking public services,” leader of the opposition Andrew Little reportedly said, adding: “Instead we have a government still focused on those at the top while most New Zealand families miss out.”