Today’s cigarette tax hike will punish the poor

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.