Hong Kong could bump up tobacco tax again in bid to further cut smoking rate, health chief reveals
- But Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau stops short of confirming whether tobacco tax increase will be included in next month’s budget
- Lo says move would be effective in encouraging people to kick the habit as tax increase last year resulted in more calls to smoking cessation hotline
Hong Kong authorities are considering increasing the duty on tobacco again in a bid to further push down the smoking rate, the health minister has revealed.
But Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau stopped short of confirming whether such a measure would be included in Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po’s budget next month, following a rise in tobacco tax in February last year.
“Data from the World Health Organization and the global experience proves that an increase in tobacco tax is one of the most effective methods [to reduce smoking]. We will definitely consider it,” Lo told the Post in a wide-ranging interview.
The city last year raised tobacco duty by 60 HK cents per cigarette, with smokers having to pay HK$12 more for a pack of 20. A pack now costs about HK$78.
Lo said the move was effective in encouraging people to quit smoking, as the number of inquiries to the government’s smoking cessation hotline jumped three- to fourfold after the tax was increased last year.