The government of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Thursday announced that it has drawn up a bill proposing to increase the duty on cigarettes by 300 per cent.

According to a report by Xinhua, the bill proposes an increase in duty from MOP 0.05 (EUR 0.005) to MOP 0.2 pataca (EUR 0.02) per cigarette. Duty on tobacco and cigars is suggested to be raised from MOP 20 to MOP 80 per kilogram and from MOP 70 to MOP 280, respectively. 
The bill has been discussed by the SAR's executive council, and will be submitted to the legislative assembly for review and a vote on it through emergency procedure, according to a press release from the SAR government's Information Bureau. The government introduced the bill to comply with the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control that provides measures to reduce tobacco consumption. 
A similar move has already been taken by Hong Kong SAR government, which announced a 50-percent increase of tobacco duty in February. Macao's tobacco duty rate is significantly lower than its neighbouring regions and has not been revised for a relatively long time, said Tong Chi Kin, a spokesperson for the executive council. Tong said people in Macao are well aware that smoking is harmful to one's health and have called for tobacco control and an increase in tobacco tax rate. (pi)