Tobacco and Tobacco products in Australia are set to increase thanks to a new tax being introduced by the Australian government in a radical new policy to reduce the amount of smokers in the country and t
o of course raise revenue, this is a fact not denied by the Australian Prime Minister K. Rudd. The taxes taken in by this new tax which will see the price of a 30 pack of cigarettes rise by about two Australian Dollars, and they will go to benefiting hospitals and the Health Care system. The initiative is part of a plan which will involve the packaging of cigarettes to be ever more plain and thus unnappealing to a new younger audience of whom is not already an addict.
As soon as the plan was proposed, soon enough addicts, (which is what they are don’t forget this) were crying revenue raiser and looked to the government to place the tax on fast food outlets in reference to the increasing Obesity Epidemic in our modern Society. They were writing letters to newspapers, goverment officials, doing whatever they can so they could keep their cigarettes two dollars cheaper. Sure if say a person smoked perhaps a pack or two a day, this woould not be such an increase, but for those who this would affect the most are those two or more pack a day smokers who it is agreeable that they are heavy addicts, costing them instead of 15 -17 a pack, 17 – 19 a pack, with those two to four pack a day smokers this would increase to nearly 80 AU Dollars a day. This is what makes this plan most effective, especially in relation to the reduction of smokers, if a smoker cannot afford to smoke so much then they shant, younger persons who are less highly paid then the older memebers in working society could not afford this habit and so in the long term buying a quit pack, some are even free would be most benefitial financially.
This move though it is a deifnitive revenue raiser, is one that will most certainly benefit the entirety of the public. The poor will become healthier and shall be less of a burden on the public health system, people will live longer, and money that perhaps had gone towards cigarettes and tobacco could maybe boost the economy. Those who may still afford to, and desire to still smoke will be putting back into the health system, their smoking not only affecting themselves but also affecting those who are anywhere near them. The image of smokers if all goes to plan, will become even more unpopular, and we could get on with solving the next problem about the quality of the air we breathe.
Lets just hope it doesn’t go Underground.
-SmilingChaos
