http://metro.co.uk/2016/05/04/in-australia-a-cigarette-pack-is-going-to-cost-23-and-69-per-cent-is-tax-5858245/
Smoking in Australia is going to get really expensive.
An average pack of 25 already costs around £15, which is nearly double the amount they go for over here.
But things are about to get even pricier for cigarette lovers, with the cost set to increase by £8 over the next four years.
That’s after the government announced it would tax tobacco products by an extra 12.5 per cent yearly from 2017 to 2020.
That would mean 69 per cent of the cost was just tax.
‘The net impact of the tobacco measures will raise $4.7bn (£2.4billion) over the next four years,’ said Australia’s treasurer Scott Morrison.
‘One of the most effective ways to discourage smoking is to increase the price of cigarettes.’
Yep, Australia is doing it in the hope it will decrease smoking so it might not be such a bad idea after all.
And it has worked before, with the numbers of smokers dropping from 25 per cent to 15 per cent from 1993 to 2013 because of increased taxation.