Not arguing that increases to the excise tax has not had an impact on reducing smoking rates - it has.
Just pointing out that the tax increases correspond with large decreases in smoking rates initially, but over time the 'returns' diminish with each additional increase. However, there are other societal issues that result from the increases in excise tax (a number of which I mentioned in my earlier post).
We cannot pretend that those issues don't exist, or aren't that bad.
Good policy is created when it considers all of the aspects, not just a single focus on health.
That does not mean that we should not care about health and just drop all of the taxes etc to give relief to the poor and cut off gang revenue streams. Just because the current way we are doing things is generating some undersirable results does not mean that it automatically follows that we should fix it by going to the opposite extreme.
It does, however, mean that we need to be more thoughtful and regard these issues from different perspectives. We certainly do not want to lose sight of the forest for the trees and immediately start jumping up and down when a Minister has simply asked for some advice.
Also, people do enjoy smoking cigarettes. Some habitually, others socially. And it is a legal product. You claim that it kills half of its users, and I welcome you to supply the evidence for that. The 'big one' for smokers is lung cancer, and about
15% of lifetime smokers will develop lung cancer for males and about 11% for females. That is very significant give the same rate of lung cancer for people who have never smoked is 1.8% male and 1.3% female.
However, far from saying that tobacco nails half of its users, you could also argue that 85% of the males and 89% of the females can enjoy the product over a lifetime and not get lung cancer.
You will point out that there are other risks associated with smoking such as stroke, heart disease etc. And that is fair enough, but I am just pointing out that lung cancer is by far and away the biggest risk to smokers... and the stats are at odds with your claim.
I also think your claims about sugar are not quite right. Obesity death rates
have exceeded smoking death rates in a lot of places (I doubt NZ is much different to the UK).
So your effort would be better placed I think jumping up and down about why we have not cranked up the excise tax on sugar. We should lift the price of a can of coke to $10 perhaps to help people get skinny.
If smoking cigarettes is as bad as you say - kills half, and leaves the other half with missing feet, tongues and strokes - then the government should quit pissing around and just ban it immediately for everytone from tomorrow.