The hike in Australia’s tobacco tax has had an expected effect with almost 300,000 people quitting the habit. The tax increase arrived this April with a 25% rise in tobacco taxes. Polls now confirm that the cost of cigarettes are a powerful lever for improving public health, with only 16 per cent of smokers stating they would “continue to smoke at any price”.
Smoking cessation expert Associate Professor John Litt from Flinders University said, “The new tariff drew strong reactions and much debate from smokers, anti-smoking groups and smoking cessation experts from across Australia when it took effect at midnight on April 29 this year…From this research it appears this move was the right one when it comes to trying to reduce smoking levels.”
There were two independent polls conducted by Galaxy Research - one involving a thousand smokers and non-smokers plus and another targeting 1,200 occasional to regular smokers. The polling was commissioned by Pfizer Australia, which makes smoking cessation treatments. The speculations and extrapolations of the results nation wide showed that there were more than 3.1 million smokers before the tax increase. In the two months following the price hike, 1.2 million smokers (38 per cent of all smokers) made a quit attempt. Nearly 300,000 of these (nine per cent of all smokers) rated their quit attempt as a success. Quit attempts also rose significantly from the 29 per cent of smokers who tried to do so in the three months before the tax hike. Asked about the cost rising cost of cigarettes was nominated as the number one reason for giving up by 21 per cent of those who successfully quit, while 45 per cent nominated health concerns. Of the smokers who continued 29 per cent said they were smoking fewer cigarettes, 47 per cent considered quitting and 40 per cent said they intended to quit in the future.
The polling also found the average smoker was now spending $57 a week on cigarettes, up from $51 before the price increase. 52 per cent of smokers said they would try to quit of the price of 20 cigarettes reached $20. At $25, 68 per cent would try to quit while only 16 per cent would “continue to smoke at any price”.
Dr Litt feels even thoughts about quitting counts. He said, “I would argue that a quit attempt is a good start as we know it can take many quit attempt before a smoker is successful in giving up for good…People should visit their doctor for advice on what treatment options are available to help break the addiction.”
In a further initiative, the federal government will enforce new regulations banning the use of colour and attractive text on cigarette packets from July 2012.
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