Tobacco tax review doesn’t rule out cuts
Nothing is being ruled in or out in a review of tobacco taxes, including reducing excise and pushing out the Smokefree 2025 target, says Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa.
“In terms of whether or not we will continue the tax or not will be a decision that Cabinet will have to make in around November,” Salesa said. “I’m not ruling in or ruling out anything. All I’m saying is that in November Cabinet will have a decision on excise tax.”
A review of the impact of tobacco tax, commissioned by the Ministry of Health, is looking at the financial impact on smokers, their families, illicit trade and crime. It is due to be completed by November.
Salesa, who has ministerial responsibility for tobacco control, said an action plan being drafted would hopefully get New Zealand to its Smokefree 2025 target but it was not realistic for some hard to reach groups such as Ma¯ori and Pasifika smokers.
Asked whether the date could be shifted further out, Salesa said: “I’m not ruling that out.”
But Health Minister David Clark said the Government still hoped to reach that target, which is a reduction to 5 per cent of the population.
Clark said banning tobacco products from dairies was not something being considered. “Generally bans, wherever they’ve been tried in the world . . . don’t work terribly well.”
Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters has said the steady increase in excise on tobacco over the years was not reducing smoking rates.
He suggested that although he would like to reduce the amount of tax on tobacco, it would reduce the amount of revenue needed by the Government for other projects.
Tobacco excise brings in close to $2 billion for the Government each year.
“We can’t fix everything up at once because we’d be straight away probably down a billion dollars in taxation at a time when we’ve got so many deficits all around the country in every area of infrastructure,” he told Newstalk ZB.
Peters said the high price of tobacco was leading to murders and assaults at dairies.
National leader Simon Bridges said Peters was blaming taxes for the actions of criminals. “The answer is staying tough on crime and the causes of crime.”