The federal government will increase the cost of smoking by raising the tobacco excise over the next four years, however south-west retailers say it won’t stop people buying cigarettes.
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The tobacco excise will increase by 12.5 per cent per year as part of the federal budget package delivered this week.
Warrnambool Tobacco Station representative Grant Reynolds said he thought it was wrong to keep raising tobacco prices.
“The working class family that doesn’t earn a lot will still buy smokes,” he said.
“They’re just taking money away from people who need it.”
Mr Reynolds said that since the tobacco excise was first introduced he had not noticed a change in demand.
“People work hard, they probably don’t earn a lot of money and at the end of the day they just want a smoke and a drink,” he said.
Port Fairy resident Graeme Carbury said the only time he'd smoked was for about two weeks when he first started working at age 14.
“I don’t smoke so they could raise it to $1000 a packet and it wouldn’t bother me,” he said.
Crossley resident Dakota Brae-Smith, who smokes, said that further increases in the price could make him decide to quit.
“I think that the rise in tax on cigarettes is a big thing that puts a lot of people out of pocket and it’s quite an incentive to give up,” he said.
“For a low income earner who will end up spending most of their money on cigarettes it really makes you think about quitting.”
A Communities That Care youth survey that engaged 1200 students across 13 Warrnambool schools last year found low levels of youth smoking.
Only one in 59 year eight students had smoked in the month before the survey, which compared to a national average of one in every 23 students.
“The increase in the price of cigarettes doesn’t really worry me because I don’t smoke and I think it’s good to deter people from smoking,” Warrnambool resident Mary Lacey said.
“It’s a health hazard so if you can give up, why not?”