Today’s cigarette tax hike will punish the poor

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ScreenHunter_3942 Sep. 01 11.09

By Leith van Onselen

Today, the price of a packet of cigarettes is scheduled to rise by between $1.12 and $2.81 due to the decisions of the former Rudd Government to raise the tobacco excise by 12.5%.

Excise also will be increased under the normal twice-yearly indexation introduced 30 years ago by the Hawke government, although now it will rise in line with average weekly ordinary-time earnings, rather than the Consumer Price Index, as was previously the case.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.