New Zealand's smokers will have to suck in a NZ$ 1.50 price rise after the next budget if anti-tobacco campaigners get their way.

Ash and the Smokefree Coalition presented a submission to parliament's finance and expenditure committee yesterday calling for "substantial" tax increases on tobacco. Ash director Becky Freeman said there had been no tax increase for six years and it was becoming "cheaper" for the country's smokers – 24 per cent of the adult population. Ash has called for a minimum price rise of NZ$ 1.50 on factory-made cigarettes.
The social development ministry last year asked the government to consider increasing tax on alcohol and tobacco in a bid to improve public health. The smokefree promoters also want tax increases on roll-your-own cigarettes, to stop consumers switching after price rises on factory-made cigarettes, as has happened in the past.
Tobacco taxes should be increased annually to at least match inflation, Freeman said.
British American Tobacco spokesman Carrick Graham said the industry was already heavily taxed. The tobacco firm paid NZ$ 750 million tax a year.
Further tax increases would encourage the burgeoning black market. "It's beating an old drum which isn't going to give them the results they want. They need to be aware of the growing influence of black market tobacco. It is a very serious issue." (pi)