General News Would you pay AUD$40 for a pack of cigarettes?

Because cigarette smoke is a risk to everyone around the smoker. It has been proven many times that no amount of secondhand smoke is safe to a human. I live in Australia and I can tell you we still have plenty of people smoking. Walking around the city streets it is impossible to avoid toxic cancer clouds.

Where as generally speaking, those who drink alcohol aren't a danger to society. Occasionally an innocent person will get hurt due to drunken behaviour, but it is the exception and cannot be compared to smoking.

 

If I smoked, hell no. It's cheaper to roll your own cigarettes these days.

 

I'm not a smoker, so I wouldn't even pay 1 Aussie Dollar or whatever currency for a pack of cigarettes. That being said, I'm not a big fan of the government trying to "educate" people give up all vices and be good work slaves.

 

It's too hard to address individuals with quotes on mobile. But I wil say: alcohol cannot be "safely consumed" -- it's a toxin and bad for your body. Drunken driving is a danger to oneself and others, not to mention all the other crazy things that's happen when drunk people are together. I meet way too many alcoholics and recovering alcoholics (I think this is disproportionately large in the gay community, however) to believe alcohol is not addicting as well.

Eh, setting aside the "which is worse" arguments, I still truly believe people only vouch for cigarette taxes because they don't smoke and so it doesn't affect them. The people who vote for it more often than not have their own unhealthy vices (drinking, eating fast food, getting little activity, etc etc) that have negative effects on the body as well, but they wouldn't want the government telling them how to live. I don't feel that it's appropriate for the government to coerce people into living a certain way by slapping huge taxes on things. I guess it really depends on your view of the role of government.

 

I quit smoking, but having a hard time. And I heard about this rule coming here to. If I want to smoke I want to smoke. I will find some way to get it. And I assume I wont be the only one. It is ridiculous in this society with all the crap (energy drinks, fast food, microwave food, sugar here sugar there, meat injected) to just raise the price only for cigarettes. I understand cigarettes are more obvious, people get out of shape etc. etc. especially if they dont exercise and smoke.

We have elections coming up soon in the Netherlands and I vote for a group that is lowering work taxes but raising food taxes for improvement of the animals and other food resources for healthier food etc. *In a nutshell explained*

I believe a lot of things should be taxed. But you are not stopping smokers your just making their lifes even more difficult which makes them wants to smoke more. Stress......

---------- Post added 14th Mar 2017 at 11:26 AM ----------

Coming from a smoker, it wont help them quit I believe/hunch/call it whatever... Some maybe do. But still...I feel majority wont let it stop them.

For me when I heard prices are going to be that high here to, it fired me up. I felt so controlled...and irritated. And I was already looking to buy from a foreign country. Most smokers I know wont let it stop them.