Australia’s sin taxes have gone too far

I wrote last week about how the taxation of tobacco is one of Australia’s biggest policy failures.

The federal government has repeatedly raised tobacco taxes to discourage smoking. Yet, the Australian Medical Association has warned that the availability of cheaper, illegal tobacco has led to a sharp rise in smoking rates, alongside booming organised crime and firebombings.

The duty on a packet of 20 cigarettes has risen from $10.62 in 2015 to $28.06 today. Yet, the most recent federal budget revealed a collapse in revenue from the excise, suggesting a significant shift by smokers to buying from the black market.