The Tobacco Control Concern Group is not, as its name would suggest, about discouraging smoking. The newly formed alliance brings cigarette makers together with the major outlets for their products - convenience store chains and newspaper vendors. Their mission is to lobby the government to change tack on anti-smoking policies. This is a legitimate exercise of free speech. Smoking, after all, remains legal except where banned in prescribed areas.
Their argument, however, is flawed. The group claims that the 50 per cent increase in tobacco tax in February has failed to reduce the number of smokers, even though it led to a 20 to 30 per cent fall in sales. Instead, they say, it has promoted the trade in illicit cigarettes. It would be surprising if it had not. Smoking is a physical addiction sanctioned by law. In the face of higher prices, many tobacco users - but not all - will turn to cheaper cigarettes, including illicit supplies, rather than give up or pay up.
The group calls for the government to step up action against illicit sales. That is all right as far as it goes. Legal vendors are entitled to protection from illegal competition. But it makes no sense to suggest that the government should not raise tobacco tax to avoid boosting illicit sales, and it is a stretch to conclude that it cannot expect higher prices to reduce the number of smokers and tobacco use.
True, price is but one factor in a free market. Health and lifestyle education, and counselling on quitting smoking, have indispensable roles. But worldwide studies show that tobacco tax increases discourage smoking, especially among the young. The South China Morning Post (SEHK: 0583, announcements, news) reported last month that the number of people trying to quit since the tax was increased had more than doubled. And it can always be argued that when smokers fill the government coffers, they are contributing indirectly to the funding of public health services to treat smoking-related diseases.
That is not to dismiss any loss of business by newspaper vendors due to increased sales of illicit cigarettes. The concern group can best serve its own interests, and those of the community, by keeping on the government's back about the need to curb such sales.
LEADER
