Ministry pushes for 80% tax on cigarettes

CHIANG MAI: -- The Ministry of Public Health is pushing for tax on cigarettes to be increased to 80 percent, while banning the sale of cigarettes in temples and forcing convenience stores to scrap their cigarette showcases.

Deputy Public Health Minister Suchai Charoenrattanakul said that the ministry was liaising with the Excise Department to raise the tax on cigarettes from 75 percent of production costs to 80 percent.

Expressing confidence that higher taxes would see a significant reduction in the number of smokers, he said the matter would now be discussed by the Cabinet.

The deputy minister also revealed that the ministry plans to ban the sale of cigarettes in temples by refusing to issue new licenses to temple shops. However, temples which are already licensed will be able to continue trading. Convenience stores will also be banned from showing cigarettes in display cases, and no cigarette advertisements will be allowed at the point of sale. In the future, the ministry hopes to ban cigarette sales in the vicinity of all temples and schools.

Although the Excise Department is planning to issue a new brand of cigarettes in the near future, it will be forbidden from advertising or trying to find new customers, and will be ordered to conduct research to reduce the toxicity of the cigarettes which it produces.

A raft of legislation including the 1993 Anti-Smoking Act, the 2000 Child Protection Act, the Tobacco Act and regulations banning smoking in public places is designed to control cigarette consumption, but Dr. Suchai conceded today that enforcement had previously been slack.

The Ministry of Public Health is currently conducting a nationwide campaign to tighten controls on the sale of cigarettes and alcohol to minors.

--TNA 2004-12-13

Why not make it 100 or even 200% tax??

Why not make it 100 or even 200% tax??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Because the punters that do smoke would make their presents felt at the next election.