Japan, long considered a smokers' paradise, is planning to raise tobacco tax from next October in a bid to repair its tattered public finances, officials said on Tuesday.

The cabinet approved a proposal by a government panel to hike the duty by 3.5 yen (EUR 0.03) a cigarette. The move would increase the price of each cigarette by about JPY 5, of which about JPY 1.5 would go to cigarette makers and retailers. It would add JPY 100 yen (EUR 0.76) to the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes now selling for JPY 300 (EUR 2.27). The hike would put heavy-smoking Japan closer in line with other developed countries, which nearly all impose heftier taxes on cigarettes and more tightly restrict public smoking. The announcement provoked dismay in Japan's tobacco industry, with former state-owned monopoly Japan Tobacco (JT) describing it as "regrettable". (pi)