Advertisement
Hong Kong
OpinionLetters

LettersDoubling Hong Kong’s tobacco tax would just fire up the black market

  • Readers discuss the consequences of a tobacco tax increase, and wonder why pieces of the city’s heritage have been allowed to fall into disrepair

2-MIN READ2-MIN
1
Some argue that making cigarettes less affordable would give smokers a stronger reason to quit. But this is to ignore the reality of the black market. Photo: Sam Tsang
Letters
Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at [email protected] or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification.

Smoking is bad. That is undebatable. What is debatable, however, is how we should address smoking as an issue of public health, an area where good intentions could often lead to unintended bad consequences.

Take the recent tobacco tax debate, for example. Some have called for the levy to be doubled to HK$76 (US$9.70) for a pack of cigarettes. They argue that making cigarettes less affordable would give smokers a stronger reason to quit. This would work, in theory, so long as one ignores the reality of the black market.
Advertisement

Over the past three years, illicit cigarettes seized by the city’s enforcement agency has almost quadrupled – from 205 million sticks in 2020 to 751 million sticks in 2022. Because of its long coastline, proximity to mainland China and many other markets with cheaper cigarettes, Hong Kong is prone to smuggling. Demand for illegal alternatives has increased as Hong Kong’s economy continues to struggle amid a revival of border traffic with the mainland, the main source of tobacco smuggling before Covid-19. How many more public resources do we need to allocate to enforcement forces to contain the problem, when we have more urgent social issues to deal with? This is simply not the time for a tobacco tax increase, let alone a massive one.

The elephant in the room is that a big tax increase will either push smokers towards the black market, or punish hard-core smokers, who are often elderly and poor, amid rising costs of living. Clearly, something is wrong with our tobacco control advocacy.

Advertisement
That said, it is encouraging that discussions surrounding tobacco control have been growing in recent months. Let us approach the issue from a more rational and pragmatic perspective ahead of a public consultation on how we can achieve a smoke-free Hong Kong.
Advertisement
Select Voice
Select Speed
1.00x