plain pack smokers
Along with an immediately effective massive 25% increase in tobacco tax the Australian labor government made a world first last Thursday by announcing that by July 2012 all tobacco products were to be sold in plain packs (no brand images or colors) causing Marrielle to wonder whether it will soon become mandatory for smokers to become brown paper bag-heads, too.
“As a smoker, I am already abused by having to put up with disgusting health warning graphics on my cigarette pack, and being sold a legal product that is unable to be displayed and comes from ‘under the counter’ like hard-porn,” says Marrielle, “so I really don’t care about the plain pack proposal as long as it doesn’t present a huge problem for shopkeepers – but I do care about the 25% increase in tobacco tax because I’m a backpacker and don’t have much money and having this sprung on me without any warning to adjust my life and finances accordingly is really bad form.”
“True to form,” sniffs Marrielle, “the tobacco companies kept mum on the massive 25% tax increase but jumped up and down on the proposed plain packaging law because it would encourage counterfeiting, lower its profits, harm branding and infringe intellectual property rights.”
“The Prime Minister Kevin Rudd insisted that his government will not be intimidated by Big Tobacco – and quite rightly so,” says Marrielle, “but along with his other disastrous forays into social engineering and money grabbing he may change his tune down the line if Big Tobacco mounts a legal battle and wins compensation from the Australian government, or the whole industry is wiped out by his draconian measures – putting thousands out of work and a huge hole in his budget.”
“The 25% tax increase will increase the cost of a packet of 30 cigarettes to around $16.70 Australian dollars – which means one cigarette costs slightly more than the 55c it costs for a local postage stamp – and will reap the government an estimated $5 billion Australian dollars over four years,” says Marrielle. “This estimate takes into consideration that about 6% of the current estimated 16.6% smokers over 14 years of age will quit.”
“For a pack a day person on basic wages or benefits the cost of cigarettes has now become prohibitive and a lot more than 6% of smokers may be forced to quit – and a greater percentage of smokers may resort to the black market, or buy cheap and nasty imported Chinese cigarettes – meaning that Mr. Rudd may not get the $5 billion he expects to gouge out of smokers.”
“If the $5 billion is being relied upon to invest in the nation’s health system, then a lot of people are going to miss out on their hip replacements and lap banding surgeries – and I mean that literally because obesity related illnesses now outstrip smoking related illnesses in Australia and most western countries and I don’t see fatties and the junk food they crave being abnormalised in the way smokers and tobacco are.”
“Imagine the outcry if all of our pleasures had to be purchased under the counter packed in brown paper bags?” asks Marrielle. “These measures are not just abnormalizing smoking but pornographizing it!”
“Actually, the announcement came out of the blue – Australia already has an automatic bi-annual increase in tobacco tax – and as it was made at the same time as Mr. Rudd ditched his climate change plans until 2013 one wonders whether the 25% tax increase on tobacco was a quick fix intended to fill the coffers that the carbon emissions tax was supposed to fill.”
“Before the Copenhagen Conference Mr. Rudd was blathering on about climate change as being the ‘great moral challenge of our generation’ and if he can do a double-take on his carbon emissions tax then nobody in their right mind can believe that this new 25% tax increase on tobacco has anything to do with health.”
“If the government really cared about the health of smokers then it would be offering nicotine replacement therapies cheaply or for free,” says Marrielle. “So, the heavily addicted who can’t quit and can’t afford the extra tax will be forced by the Australian government to smoke cheap cigarettes that are more likely to cause health problems than regular cigarettes.”
“It’s just a tax grab on the most vulnerable of citizens – including the Aboriginal population – and it’s also an unscrupulous distraction from the fact that Rudd has reneged on the ETS and desperately needs a whole lot of money to repay his Chinese debts,” says Marrielle. “Which makes me wonder whether this is part of a deal he has made with China to flood the market with cheap Chinese tobacco products?”
“Also, plain pack cigarettes are really not going to bother existing smokers and I cannot see how they are going to influence young people not to take up smoking either,” says Marrielle. “Tobacco advertising was banned decades ago and to suggest that a stupid brand logo makes a young person want to buy cigarettes to make them look ‘cool’ is ridiculous, especially when all cigarette packs are plastered with horrific images of smoking related illnesses on them – what’s cool about that?”
“The plain pack proposal was merely added to the 25% tax increase on tobacco in order to give the impression that it’s all being done in the interests of better health, not to raise money,” sighs Marrielle, “and that the tax increase applies immediately, but the plain packaging doesn’t take effect until July 2012 – by which time Mr. Rudd and his labor government may be out of office – shows that it is all a big bluff and may never see the light of day.”
“Now that winter is coming on in Australia a lot of backpackers will be heading home for the northern summer and with the prohibitive new cost of cigarettes I will be one of them,” laughs Marrielle. “Australia is no place for smokers – especially poor smokers like me!”
“As a smoker, I am already abused by having to put up with disgusting health warning graphics on my cigarette pack, and being sold a legal product that is unable to be displayed and comes from ‘under the counter’ like hard-porn,” says Marrielle, “so I really don’t care about the plain pack proposal as long as it doesn’t present a huge problem for shopkeepers – but I do care about the 25% increase in tobacco tax because I’m a backpacker and don’t have much money and having this sprung on me without any warning to adjust my life and finances accordingly is really bad form.”
“True to form,” sniffs Marrielle, “the tobacco companies kept mum on the massive 25% tax increase but jumped up and down on the proposed plain packaging law because it would encourage counterfeiting, lower its profits, harm branding and infringe intellectual property rights.”
“The Prime Minister Kevin Rudd insisted that his government will not be intimidated by Big Tobacco – and quite rightly so,” says Marrielle, “but along with his other disastrous forays into social engineering and money grabbing he may change his tune down the line if Big Tobacco mounts a legal battle and wins compensation from the Australian government, or the whole industry is wiped out by his draconian measures – putting thousands out of work and a huge hole in his budget.”
“The 25% tax increase will increase the cost of a packet of 30 cigarettes to around $16.70 Australian dollars – which means one cigarette costs slightly more than the 55c it costs for a local postage stamp – and will reap the government an estimated $5 billion Australian dollars over four years,” says Marrielle. “This estimate takes into consideration that about 6% of the current estimated 16.6% smokers over 14 years of age will quit.”
“For a pack a day person on basic wages or benefits the cost of cigarettes has now become prohibitive and a lot more than 6% of smokers may be forced to quit – and a greater percentage of smokers may resort to the black market, or buy cheap and nasty imported Chinese cigarettes – meaning that Mr. Rudd may not get the $5 billion he expects to gouge out of smokers.”
“If the $5 billion is being relied upon to invest in the nation’s health system, then a lot of people are going to miss out on their hip replacements and lap banding surgeries – and I mean that literally because obesity related illnesses now outstrip smoking related illnesses in Australia and most western countries and I don’t see fatties and the junk food they crave being abnormalised in the way smokers and tobacco are.”
“Imagine the outcry if all of our pleasures had to be purchased under the counter packed in brown paper bags?” asks Marrielle. “These measures are not just abnormalizing smoking but pornographizing it!”
“Actually, the announcement came out of the blue – Australia already has an automatic bi-annual increase in tobacco tax – and as it was made at the same time as Mr. Rudd ditched his climate change plans until 2013 one wonders whether the 25% tax increase on tobacco was a quick fix intended to fill the coffers that the carbon emissions tax was supposed to fill.”
“Before the Copenhagen Conference Mr. Rudd was blathering on about climate change as being the ‘great moral challenge of our generation’ and if he can do a double-take on his carbon emissions tax then nobody in their right mind can believe that this new 25% tax increase on tobacco has anything to do with health.”
“If the government really cared about the health of smokers then it would be offering nicotine replacement therapies cheaply or for free,” says Marrielle. “So, the heavily addicted who can’t quit and can’t afford the extra tax will be forced by the Australian government to smoke cheap cigarettes that are more likely to cause health problems than regular cigarettes.”
“It’s just a tax grab on the most vulnerable of citizens – including the Aboriginal population – and it’s also an unscrupulous distraction from the fact that Rudd has reneged on the ETS and desperately needs a whole lot of money to repay his Chinese debts,” says Marrielle. “Which makes me wonder whether this is part of a deal he has made with China to flood the market with cheap Chinese tobacco products?”
“Also, plain pack cigarettes are really not going to bother existing smokers and I cannot see how they are going to influence young people not to take up smoking either,” says Marrielle. “Tobacco advertising was banned decades ago and to suggest that a stupid brand logo makes a young person want to buy cigarettes to make them look ‘cool’ is ridiculous, especially when all cigarette packs are plastered with horrific images of smoking related illnesses on them – what’s cool about that?”
“The plain pack proposal was merely added to the 25% tax increase on tobacco in order to give the impression that it’s all being done in the interests of better health, not to raise money,” sighs Marrielle, “and that the tax increase applies immediately, but the plain packaging doesn’t take effect until July 2012 – by which time Mr. Rudd and his labor government may be out of office – shows that it is all a big bluff and may never see the light of day.”
“Now that winter is coming on in Australia a lot of backpackers will be heading home for the northern summer and with the prohibitive new cost of cigarettes I will be one of them,” laughs Marrielle. “Australia is no place for smokers – especially poor smokers like me!”
Labels: australia, cigarettes, plain packs, smoking, tobacco advertising, tobacco tax
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