Letters | Go beyond e-cigarette ban: raise tobacco taxes further to truly protect public health
- Hong Kong can look to the UK, which regularly raises taxes on tobacco products to keep up with inflation
However, while a total ban on e-cigarettes could help to reduce the number of vapers in Hong Kong, and act as a deterrent for those who want to try similar new tobacco products, especially teenagers, it would do nothing to reduce the number of smokers who prefer conventional tobacco cigarettes.
Therefore, although the e-cigarette ban is better than nothing, I believe the government should put more efforts into reducing the number of smokers overall, so as to deal with the risks to public health posed by tobacco use, as well as its impact on second-hand smokers.
The government should introduce a policy of incremental taxation on the purchase of cigarettes every year. Taxation introduced in previous years has obviously not worked as a strong enough deterrent, as cigarettes smokers are still lighting up. The government should follow the example of Britain where taxes on tobacco products are increased by 2 per cent above inflation. The cost of a pack of cigarettes is 80-90 per cent tax, higher than the World Health Organisation’s suggested taxation of 70 per cent. Along with publicising concerns about vaping, the Hong Kong government should put the control of conventional cigarettes under the spotlight as well to decrease public health risks.
Joyce Tsang, Tseung Kwan O