read this. the tax rate on tobacco products in india is 28%+204%. so, the costing is , $100+$28+$204= $332.
has that stopped or even lowered the consumption of tobacco products in india? absolutely not.
its not about authoritarianism when it comes to such issues. alcohol is banned in many countries across the world. "muslims" are most of them. do they have to enforce drunk driving ban or sale of liquor to minors or is there alcoholic epidemic in those countries? do people get wasted on the streets ? they might have other problems but not alcohol is not one of them.
i personally want this law to succeed because while i do not smoke, people i know do and i have seen teens get "attracted" to this because "oh i have depression. lets smoke", those stuff.
there will be consequences but if i read it correctly, its not about people who are current addicts but future expected ones. they "don't" know what cigarettes are or what they do. if done properly, these people will not grow up to find their corner shop selling tobacco and in some years, many people will not see smoking a cigarette as "normal" which it currently is.
If you think making mind altering substances illegal works let me introduce the “War on Drugs” which has been a complete failure.
It’s like trying to outlaw sex. You’re fighting evolution.
i am assuming that is the long term goals of new zealand
Ok, I think we'll need a quote for that. Various sources indicate falling percentage of smokers in recent years.
"Impact on the tobacco industry is going to be largely neutral since the 5% cess declared by the Indian government was less than the expected rate by the tobacco industry. There will be an increase in the expense of smokers due to the rise in the price of a cigarette in the initial period. Although, it is expected that the tobacco industry, irrespective of the tax rate, would have a neutral effect due to the implementation of GST."
https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/low-tobacco-tax-poor-...
"The lack of tax increases in post-GST years might mean that some current smokers smoke more now and some non-smokers have started smoking. This could potentially lead to a reversal of the declining trend in prevalence. This might jeopardise India’s commitment to achieving 30% tobacco use prevalence reduction by 2025 as envisaged in the National Health Policy of 2017 by the Government of India."
https://www.caclubindia.com/articles/taxation-and-impact-of-...
this one has more meat into it.
But neither one really shows that the prevalence of smokers pre- and post-tax hasn't changed.
In terms of numbers I can only find the 2016-2017 GATS numbers of 28.6% users, 10.7% smokers.
I predict they’ll back off this before long. Or won’t enforce it.
Just tax it heavily - cigarettes are almost $20/pack in NYC and the problem solved itself.
Not sure if it’s proximity to China but NZ and Australia seem to have a fetish for authoritarianism that other Western countries don’t.