New Zealand: Tobacco Tax Working to Cut Smoking Rate - Survey

Source from:  ONE News  05/31/2013

The Government's latest tobacco tax increase has pushed more New Zealanders to quit smoking, survey findings suggest.

In a University of Canterbury survey of 226 smokers, 4.5% of respondents said that they decided to give up the habit following the January 1 10% tax increase.

Released in conjunction with World Smokefree Day, the nationwide study was directed by Professor Randolph Grace, Dr Anthony McLean and Dr Murray Laugesen.

The Government will increase tobacco excise by 10% annually from 2010 through to 2016.

In December, before the latest tobacco tax increase took effect, researchers interviewed a total of 357 smokers aged 18 years and over about their habits.

Two thirds of the smokers smoked factory made cigarettes and 34% smoked roll-your-own.

"When we contacted smokers in the second wave in February and March 2013, 226 agreed to be re-interviewed.

"Sixteen had quit smoking. Factory-made cigarette smokers were more likely to have quit than roll-your-own smokers," said Grace.

The study results also found that the Government's hike in tobacco tax has also triggered a 15% drop in reported cigarette sales.

Those who respondents who had not quit smoking decreased cigarettes smoked a day by an average 2.1 per day from 14.2 to 12.1 cigarettes a day, which is a 15% decrease.

The Government's Smokefree campaign hopes to have a smoking rate of fewer than 5% of the population by 2025.

Following the January tax increase, Grace said that respondents also reported significantly less addiction to smoking in the second wave of interviews compared with those interviewed at the end of last year.

"Those that had relatively more reduction in strength of addiction also reported that they smoked fewer cigarettes a day and were more likely to have quit earlier this year," he said.

Overall, Grace said that the results show that the smokers are smoking less and spending less on cigarettes.

"The data suggest that the Government tax rise is likely to be having a beneficial effect in terms of reducing smoking. Our survey provides some reasons to be optimistic that the Government tax increase is successful in its goal of reducing smoking,'' he added.

Worldwide, tobacco use causes more than five million deaths a year and current trends show that tobacco use will cause more than eight million deaths annually by 2030.

Smoking causes about 25% of all cancer deaths in New Zealand and one out of every 10 deaths worldwide.

Around 5000 New Zealanders die each year from smoking-related illnesses including about 350 people dying from second-hand smoke inhalation. Enditem