Australia's tobacco tax crushed smoking. Has it gone too far?
www.abc.net.au
A decade ago, illegal cigarettes made up about 10 per cent of sales in Australia. Now it's 80 per cent, so how did we get here?
  • Slashme@lemmy.worldEnglish
    171·
    10 days ago

    OK, so previously illegal cigs were 10% of the market, and now they’re 80%. But the market has shrunk dramatically. From the article:

    In 2010, about one in seven Australians smoked daily.

    The country’s main national household survey last year found that rate had dropped to about one in 18 people.

        • ryannathans@aussie.zoneEnglish
          45·
          9 days ago

          Sure just ignore the drive by shootings and burning buildings on your way down the street

          • tankiesmasher@aussie.zoneEnglish
            9·
            9 days ago

            If the market continues to trend downwards then illegal trade will fall as well until it’s below pre-excise levels.

            If the market plateaus with the illegal market still above pre-excise levels then I’d agree they should remove the excise and call the policy a failure… Well, maybe, you might be able to argue some marginal increase is worth a massive decrease in smoking, not 4x, but maybe 1.1-1.3x.