Raise tobacco tax to be on par with other cities
In his 2009 budget speech a year ago, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah announced a 50 per cent increase in tobacco duty 'with immediate effect'.
He said: 'We will also continue to step up our efforts on smoking cessation, as well as publicity and enforcement in tobacco control.' But Mr Tsang's determination is yet to be proved until we see a continuation of a tax increase policy in this year's budget.
The tobacco tax was increased by 5 per cent in 2001, but there was no rise for the next seven years.
If we want to continue our efforts on tobacco control for public health, besides enforcement and publicity as well as cessation services, we need to see a regular tax increase policy in place.
Some people may argue that raising tobacco tax will only raise the sale price of cigarettes, which are already very expensive.
But is this the case? Hong Kong ranked the 29th most-expensive place among other world cities, while New York ranked 31st, in a recent cost-of-living survey by an international employment agency.
