Hong Kong anti-smoking watchdog calls for 75% increase in tobacco tax to bring city in line with WHO standards
- Watchdog says 75% tobacco tax rise will cut smoking rate in Hong Kong to 8.8 per cent
- Academic estimates 28,000 smokers will quit habit, preventing 9,350 premature deaths
Hong Kong should increase its tobacco tax by 75 per cent to reach international standards, the city’s anti-smoking watchdog has said, with such a move estimated to make 28,000 people kick the habit.
The Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health said on Tuesday that a tax rise of that size could cut the smoking rate by around 0.7 percentage points to 8.8 per cent. However, other control measures would be needed to bring the current rate of 9.5 per cent down to the city’s 7.8 per cent goal by next year, it added.
The council, a statutory body which advises the government on smoking issues, made the call ahead of the budget next month. The tobacco tax was increased by 31.5 per cent in last year’s budget.
“Raising tobacco tax should be prioritised for achieving the smoking reduction target,” council chairman Henry Tong Sau-chai said at a press conference.
“[The increase last year] was insufficient to compensate for the price gap caused by the freezing of the tax rate in the previous eight years.”
A pack of 20 cigarettes currently costs HK$78, with tax taking up around HK$50, or 64.1 per cent of the retail price.
The council noted that as the World Health Organization had stated that tax should account for at least three-quarters of the retail price, Hong Kong would need to raise it by 75 per cent to reach that goal.