“Australian smokers will need to afford an extra 12.5 per cent for their cigarettes from Tuesday 1 September as the tobacco excise increases. ”
Australia is the world’s most expensive country in which to be a smoker, with one pack alone tearing a hole of almost US$20 in an Australian smoker’s wallet.
Even worse, since 1st September, successive tax hikes from April 2010 have pushed the price of cigarettes higher, with today’s hike meaning a 25 pack of Marlboro Gold cigarettes will cost $48.50, while the average 20 pack will cost around $35 (Dean, 2020). Cancer Council Victoria believes the taxes do contribute to declining smoking rates the tobacco tax contributes around $17 billion to tax revenue in Victoria.
Since April 2017 there were large number of smokers has given up smoking cigarette. Partially of them quitted, Some others chose to use E-cigarette products as a substitute good to cigarette. Based on statistic from ATRHA, above 1.2% of adults current vaping in Australia, due to E-cigarette costs less than tobacco and cigarettes. HealthCabin is your trustworthy one-stop superstore to shop the latest and best-equipped vaping devices and e-liquids.
If you’re new to vaping, here is a full nicotine e-liquid guide in Australia, which will help you get involved in some troubles related to government policies.
I really can’t believe the amount of revenue you say they have gained in 1 Australian state alone from smokers pockets. 17billion??!! I live in Australia and was paying $60+ AUD for a packet of 40 cigarettes. It was totally unaffordable and I felt so angry that I was being forced to comply with quitting when it was not something I was able to do for 35 years. I am supposedly a free adult who should be able to decide this for myself anyway. I don’t appreciate being forced to do what the government decides and being coerced via financial punishment. It is an oppressive act against its citizens especially for a supposed democratic nation.
Fortunately I was introduced to vaping though unfortunately it is illegal there to use or buy nicotine vaping liquids but not illegal to import them from overseas. This shift to vaping finally made it surprisingly easy for me to stop smoking cigarettes and to stop being extorted by the Australian Government. Though it makes me angry that they say they want smokers to quit and force our hands but at the same time they ban the one safer alternative that can truly help smokers to stop painlessly and successfully in a way that had been impossible before vaping tools for my level of addiction spanning 35 years. No other nicotine substitute or stop smoking aid had given me any level of success in all those years. That’s just plain wrong to ignore thiscdichotomy. It is yet another show that Australia’s over regulation and control of its citizens is not for our well being but for the enormous amounts of revenue raising that they do by restricting our rights and freedoms in every area of our lives at an increasing rate.
Noone seems to pay attention to the astonishing amounts of money being funnelled from them in fines and taxes. If they were told that their salaries would be decreased by the amounts required to raise just the 17billion from smokers in 1 state alone, I don’t think that would be acceptable yet it’s essentially what is being done to smokers.
And that’s only 1 way they are raising revenue with the penalty and tax sanctions system of control over us. We are no longer a free country and we don’t have a constitution protecting our sovereign human freedoms and rights so we are in more trouble than most complacent Australians realise. We are one of the very few democratic nations that has imposed a total ban on nicotine based e cigarettes and that should really be alarming. There was barely any discussion on the matter and it has not really changed despite any evidence presented or support for change by medical experts etc. It falls on deaf ears and we are simply ignored.
Thankyou for writing this article about what’s happening in Australia. It really is not noticed or discussed as much as it should be. Worldwide I believe that the hysteria and prohibition attempts over vaping are serious red flags for bigger problems. The whole world is taking a bad direction with over regulation and centralised controls that we are seeing especially during the pandemic and collectively allowing this to erode the free will that was the hard gained foundational premise of modern western societies.