South Korea has proposed a tax hike that would nearly double cigarette prices as the government tries to reduce one of the world’s highest smoking rates among adult males.
The proposal on Thursday was immediately criticised by the main opposition party, highlighting the difficulty in implementing anti-smoking regulations in a country where the health risks associated with smoking are not widely publicised.
The proposal calls for a more than 100 percent tax increase on a pack of cigarettes, which would double current prices that range between $1.9-$2.4 – far less than the $12 per pack that smokers pay in Australia, which recently toughened its anti-smoking laws.
The initiative also suggested banning cigarette advertisements in convenience stores and making graphic warning
labels on cigarette packs mandatory.
KT&G, which sells 60 percent of all cigarettes bought in the country, declined to comment on the tax proposal.
South Koreans are among the heaviest smokers in the world: just under half of all adult males smoke, government data shows, compared to an average of 25.4 percent in the 34 countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. [Al Jazeera]
You can read more at the link, but if this is really about improving public health why isn’t the government also trying to double the price of alcohol as well? I think a strong argument could be made that the affects of alcohol is worse for public health than smoking.
