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Sin tax doubles for smokers
(HK Edition)
Updated: 2009-06-02 07:32
TAIPEI: The health surcharge on cigarettes and other tobacco products doubled yesterday from NT$10 a pack to NT$20. Chao Kun-yu, director of the Bureau of Health Promotion under the Department of Health (DOH), said retail stores are allowed to sell off existing cigarette stocks without imposing the extra NT$10 tax on customers. He urged consumers to examine the cigarettes they buy to make sure the pack carries a sticker certifying a NT$20 health and welfare surcharge. The 100 percent surcharge increase will raise the average per-pack price for cigarettes to between NT$55 and NT$70 ($2.15) per pack, depending on the brand. The new measure is expected to boost annual revenues from the health and welfare surcharge from NT$20 billion to between NT$32 billion and NT$36 billion. Anti-smoking campaigners said the increase would do little to encourage people to break the tobacco habit. The John Tung Foundation that leads Taiwan's anti-smoking campaign said the surcharge hike was too small. "Health surcharges and tax are two different things. Taiwan imposed a NT$11.8 cigarette tax in 1987 and has not raised it for more than 20 years," the foundation's Lin Ching-li said. "We want the government to raise cigarette tax until the average price for a packet of cigarette is NT$100," she said. Lin said that compared with other jurisdictions with a high living standard, cigarette price in Taiwan is too low. She said that research has shown raising cigarette price is effective in discouraging smoking. After Hong Kong raised cigarette tax in 1983, the percentage of smokers in Hong Kong dropped from 23 percent in 1982 to 14 percent in 2005, the foundation said in a statement. In accordance with the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act and the regulations governing the distribution of the tobacco health and welfare surcharge, the DOH will use 4 percent, or NT$1.39 billion, of the revenues obtained from the surcharge as subsidies to 470,000 underprivileged individuals to help them obtain health insurance, Chao said. The health insurance bureau will get 70 percent of the surcharge revenues to help cover a NT$10 billion financial shortfall. The remainder will be distributed in other ways, including 6 percent for cancer prevention, 5 percent to help raise standards of medical services, 3 percent in areas lacking medical resources, another 3 percent on tobacco hazards prevention and 2 percent on treatment of rare diseases. AFP/CNA
(HK Edition 06/02/2009 page2) |
