Australia: Cigarettes Could Soon Cost More than $40 a Pack

Source from:  Daily Mail Australia 11/12/2015

Labor are doing bad enough in the opinion polls as it is, but reports they'll raise the price of cigarettes to more than $40 a packet if they get back in government could see their election chances suffer.

Labor leader Bill Shorten has not tried to hide his dislike for smoking and the federal opposition is looking into doing three increases in the tobacco excise to generate $40 billion in ten years.

Mr Shorten said smoking is 'disastrous' and has confirmed the federal opposition is considering increasing the price of cigarettes to more than $40 a packet if it gets back in government.

The unprecedented move would see the cost of cigarettes in Australia spiral to one of the priciest in the world.

On Wednesday the Sydney Morning Herald reports that Mr Shorten said at Parliament House in Canberra that the party were discussing the issue, but that he regards smoking tobaccos as having 'terrible health consequences'.

'In terms of options for funding in the future, for us we are looking at different measures but we haven't arrived at any final landing,' he said.

'For myself I think smoking's disastrous, it has terrible health consequences.

'Previous governments of all political persuasions have seen good public policy for raising excise there but as I said we haven't made a final decision.'
Since 2013 the tobacco excise has been increasing by 12.5 per cent yearly.

It would continue to increase by another 12.5 per cent up until 2019 if Mr Shorten's proposal was to be introduced if Labor regained power.

The issue is that the rise would also be on top of a twice yearly indexation.

Aother problem with higher tabacco taxation is that it would most likely increase the growth of the tobacco black market and cost the government revenue in the long run. Enditem