cigarettes will make you poor here

[STEED]

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16214173

The cost of a packet of cigarettes in New Zealand could rise to as much as $100 dollars - around £50 - by 2020 amid moves to stamp out smoking.

The Ministry of Health wants New Zealand to be smoke free by 2025 and the suggested increase gives the first hint of the drastic measures being discussed.

Why talk about, do it, I hear the non smokers shout out.

I can not see this happening.

[mookiemookie]

All they're going to do is create a black market. Smokers, the hardcore ones at least, will do anything to get their fix.

[Diopos]

All they're going to do is create a black market. Smokers, the hardcore ones at least, will do anything to get their fix.

Yeahp, or buy them via internet :yep:

.

[Betonov]

Now all I need is a clipper and I'll buy a hold full of cigarettes in Bosnia and sell them in Australia :arrgh!:

[August]

Now all I need is a clipper and I'll buy a hold full of cigarettes in Bosnia and sell them in Australia :arrgh!:

My thought exactly. :D

[Reece]

I'm sick of governments dictating what you can and can't do with your own life, I'm an ex smoker and would never go back due to health reasons, my choice, it is up to the individual, it is there right to smoke or not, not the stinking government!!:nope:
A better idea would be to ban smoking for non smokers (if that were possible - school leavers) so they don't start but those that have done it all their lives should not be hit with ridiculous prices they can't afford, same thing is happening with alcohol and some people this is all they have in life!:doh: IMO.:oops:

[Tribesman]

Now all I need is a clipper and I'll buy a hold full of cigarettes in Bosnia and sell them in Australia
Be careful, that means navigating the Adriatic and those waters have been known to contain Italian cruise liners.

[kiwi_2005]

Smokes prices here at the moment is:
$14:50 - $16 for a pack of 20 filters
$31 for a pack of 30gram tobacco
$43 for a pack of 40gram tobacco
$53 for a pack of 50gram tobacco

Smokes have photos of bleeding hearts, gangrene toe etc on packets

Government next step is to make all cigarette packets plain color. Can't see what difference this will do if smokes were sold in plastic bags smokers will still buy them.

Though with the high costs we still have a high rate of smokers especially with our young starting up.

NZ is aiming for Smoke free by 2025 :dead:

[u crank]

Yeah, here in Canada we have the same graphic pics on the packages. Also store owners cannot have smokes on display. You have to ask for them. It's pretty silly actually. Government protecting you from yourself. Glad I quit thirty years ago. :DL

There is also a thriving illegal cigarette trade going on as well.

[Stealhead]

If you make something that a sizable portion of the population wants illegal then you merely give criminal enterprise another business opportunity.

Also in the US (or most other nations for that matter) what gives the government the right to tell people what they can or can not do with/to their bodies if someone wants to smoke let them smoke I can understand the no smoking in places like a restaurant or similar public venue but at bars such a thing is a laugh.No smoking in here but feel free to give your self liver disease and liver cancer and to get so drunk that you forget what you did the next day or perhaps you try to drive yourself home and kill yourself and others in a car crash.I wonder why alcohol is legal over many other drugs booze does more harm to society than any other drug easily.But smoking is bad and so is eating unhealthy foods of course they want to keep you from doing that too.

I think the moment that governments start pushing this crap too far is the moment that the citizens of that government need to put a bullet in its head.

[Betonov]

Be careful, that means navigating the Adriatic and those waters have been known to contain Italian cruise liners.

:har::har: And worse, Croatian fishermen :DL

[August]

Also in the US (or most other nations for that matter) what gives the government the right to tell people what they can or can not do with/to their bodies


Government mandated health care. The government owns your body now and it won't stop with tobacco either.

[Tribesman]

Government mandated health care. The government owns your body now and it won't stop with tobacco either.
Even without government mandated healthcare governments gouge people on tobacco price, and if there wasn't any government healthcare private insurance would seriously screw smokers by loading their premiums just like they already do.
It doesn't stop with tobacco anyway it goes across a wide range of goods just like it always has so "government mandated healthcare" is a bit of a kipper.

[Stealhead]

Well at least in the US the entire tobacco thing goes both ways in the states that grow tobacco and produce tobacco products at least at the state level they heavily lobby the government and I am sure that most reps in DC from those states are pro tobacco as well.


And the taxes that many nations/states place on tobacco is bogus in my opinion they do not stop people from buying smokes another interesting fact to consider is that a sizable number of smokers at least in developed countries are the poorer lesser educated class so are they really trying to make you more healthy or are they trying to make you rely more on the government because I am certain that there are many people that need(how many really need is anyone's guess) government aid to feed themselves and their families yet they smoke which means that they are spending the money that they earn(or get from welfare) on the high cost of smoking which means that they will not have that extra money to buy food or other goods on their own so go to daddy government who made the costs of smoking rise.I do not know personally a single person that smokes or used to smoke that was motivated to quit solely due to the cost alone.

[Penguin]

Smokes prices here at the moment is:
$14:50 - $16 for a pack of 20 filters
$31 for a pack of 30gram tobacco
$43 for a pack of 40gram tobacco
$53 for a pack of 50gram tobacco


Ay caramba, that's pretty steep! :o We pay about half of it in Germany (5 Euros a pack, 40g tobacco a little cheaper - rolling tobacco used to be a lot less taxed.
Yet, the amount of illegal (untaxed) cigarettes is estimated to be about 22%, it went up parallel with the taxation level.
Basic economy 101, not understood by many politicians: when you raise the price indefinitely, the revenue doesn't.

[thebeasle]

Government mandated health care. The government owns your body now and it won't stop with tobacco either.

This. Government paying for healthcare will be the justification to ban smoking and all other things. They will also try to force you to eat according to the food pyramid, which is terrible for your health.

[soopaman2]

This. Government paying for healthcare will be the justification to ban smoking and all other things. They will also try to force you to eat according to the food pyramid, which is terrible for your health.

Ban Alcohol too. More drunks kill people on the road in a week, than secondhand smoke kills outside in 20 years.

I love when people fake cough. I usually blow a nice puff towards them. Especially if I am in one of the few places outdoors I am still allowed to smoke.

Yet a bartender will let me slam down 10 drinks and drive home, every time. (not saying I do. Just saying)

edit: I know this is not the USA, but the government will be even more deficit ridden without the obscene taxes it collects on ciggys. Downside to everything. Just saying all you (other people) lifestyle freaks.

[Stealhead]

This. Government paying for healthcare will be the justification to ban smoking and all other things. They will also try to force you to eat according to the food pyramid, which is terrible for your health.

I cant speak for others but I for one will never allow any government tell me how to live on that level.I mean somethings like certain taxes are a bit annoying but they pay for something(supposedly) like police and first responders I suppose if you live in a city you also get to pay for water I do not as I live in unincorporated county zone and I have a well and a septic tank.

Certain laws are also understandable but if the government tries to come and tell me what to eat and how to live then I will declare my intent to disobey if they are smart they will leave me alone if they try to use force to make me obey then they will meet force.

[soopaman2]

Certain laws are also understandable but if the government tries to come and tell me what to eat and how to live then I will declare my intent to disobey if they are smart they will leave me alone if they try to use force to make me obey then they will meet force.

That is the American spirit!:salute:

I'll summarize in a way our forefathers did ( and Metallica).

"Don't tread on me."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db1s-eV-Bd0
:salute::yeah::rock:

[August]

I cant speak for others but I for one will never allow any government tell me how to live on that level.I mean somethings like certain taxes are a bit annoying but they pay for something(supposedly) like police and first responders I suppose if you live in a city you also get to pay for water I do not as I live in unincorporated county zone and I have a well and a septic tank.

Certain laws are also understandable but if the government tries to come and tell me what to eat and how to live then I will declare my intent to disobey if they are smart they will leave me alone if they try to use force to make me obey then they will meet force.

You'll need to grow your own crops and raise your own livestock then because the way they'll regulate your diet is by regulating what you are allowed to buy at the market.

[Tribesman]

You'll need to grow your own crops and raise your own livestock then because the way they'll regulate your diet is by regulating what you are allowed to buy at the market.
And if you are raising your own livestock you wil be facing lots more regulations as livestock is a big business and needs some serious regulation.

[Jimbuna]

Quit the habit just three years ago after smoking for 30+ so I believe I know how hard it could be for some to beat the addiction.

Raising the tax through the roof will simply allow a black market to flourish and a potential loss of income to the government.

I'm not sure there is an essy answer to this whichever side of the debate you support.

[joea]

Ban Alcohol too. More drunks kill people on the road in a week, than secondhand smoke kills outside in 20 years.

I love when people fake cough. I usually blow a nice puff towards them. Especially if I am in one of the few places outdoors I am still allowed to smoke.

Yet a bartender will let me slam down 10 drinks and drive home, every time. (not saying I do. Just saying)

edit: I know this is not the USA, but the government will be even more deficit ridden without the obscene taxes it collects on ciggys. Downside to everything. Just saying all you (other people) lifestyle freaks.

I agree with most of what you say and think governemnt regulation is going to far- however I will point out there are people like myself who suffer from seasonal (hayfever related) asthma and I cannot abide cigarette smoke. I prefer to avoid it but as I have friends who smoke it usually is ok as they usually will head out to smoke. In the summer I put up with it as I liek to sit outside too just not in the spring please. How can you tell a fake cough anyway? :-?

[STEED]

Smoke? Go ahead but if you fall ill and need medical treatment your paying. That could be a case here in the UK as we have the NHS. No idea about the rest of the world, but there is a draw back to the idea. If you take it to this level you want to do DIY and go to the gym find but if you have a accident your paying. Difficult to find the correct balance of keeping both sides happy.

[BossMark]

Instead of saying on your fag packets
Smoking can seriously damage your health and those around you
It should say
The bloody Tory government as damaged your health and also those very near you

[MH]

Smoke? Go ahead but if you fall ill and need medical treatment your paying. That could be a case here in the UK as we have the NHS. No idea about the rest of the world, but there is a draw back to the idea. If you take it to this level you want to do DIY and go to the gym find but if you have a accident your paying. Difficult to find the correct balance of keeping both sides happy.

Pay 20$ is the answer....smoking and paying for future chemotherapy in taxes.

[August]

So what if you get cancer and never smoked?

What if you get cancer and quit smoking years or even decades earlier?

What if you get cancer, smoked for a few years before quitting but were also exposed to carcinogens in other ways?

I'm afraid there is no balance that will satisfy all sides and all attempts at finding such a balance will only result in irritating everyone.

[GT182]

Yikes.... better to quit than throw away 100 bucks a pack. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v64/GT182/faint.gif

Actually I have finally quit cigarettes. The brand I was smoking went over 4.00/pack last year. I'm now smoking cigars. :D LOL Brand is 1839 and they cost $13.20 a carton. Same size a 100mm cigarette and they're filtered. You can get them flavored or regular plain ol Full Flavor. www.go1839.com