Sin tax does not trigger crime
National leader Simon Bridges says Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters should be blaming criminals for robbing dairies – not high tobacco excise taxes.
Peters, who smoked for much of his career, said on Monday that high excise taxes had resulted in an up-tick of dairy robberies.
The excise tax on tobacco has risen by at least 10 per cent every year since 2010, with about 83 cents now levied on every cigarette.
The tax makes up well over half of the total price of a pack of cigarettes, and brings in around $1.7 billion for the Government a year.
‘‘It’s leading to people being murdered and assaulted in our dairies,’’ Peters said of the tax.
Robberies have been on the rise in recent years, with many dairy-owners blaming the skyhigh price of cigarettes – a key commodity making many of their businesses viable.
But Bridges said this response was too soft on criminals.
‘‘He’s making excuses for criminals. Ultimately he’s the prime minister at the moment. If he thinks the taxes are too high he should do something about it, but I doubt he will,’’ Bridges said.
‘‘The answer is staying tough on crime and the causes of crime. Making sure you have deterrent penalties so that when thugs come into dairies and superettes with baseball bats intent on committing crimes – when they’re caught, because they basically always are – that they are dealt with in a stern way that deters others.’’
The Government has commissioned a review into the excise tax from the Ministry of Health due to return a report by the end of the year.
A KPMG report commissioned by Imperial Tobacco NZ found that about 9 per cent of tobacco was being obtained illegally, leading to up to $182 million in lost excise taxes for the Government.
Conversely, Imperial Tobacco blamed the high excise taxes on the illicit market.
Peters rejected any notion that tobacco should be banned in order to bring down both the crime and the health costs associated with the dangerous chemical addiction.
‘‘All [dairy-owners] are asking for is the right to conduct their businesses in a secure environment, and that’s what a civil society looks like,’’ Peters said. ‘‘Their businesses are dependent on the product, it’s a legal product.’’
He didn’t believe the excise tax has resulted in the drop in smoking that many believed it would, and didn’t think the Government would meet a goal of making New Zealand smoke-free by 2025.
Bridges admitted that goal – launched under his Government in 2011 – would be very tough to meet.
‘‘[Winston Peters is] the prime minister at the moment. If he thinks the taxes are too high he should do something about it.’’
Opposition leader Simon Bridges