Jump to full article: Melbourne (Vic) Herald Sun (au), 2008-04-29
Author: Ben Packham and Sue Dunleavy
Intro: THE Rudd Government could reap up to $3.6 billion from adding a new cigarette tax to its $2 billion alcopop tariff.
And a 300 per cent rise in beer and wine taxes is being proposed by the Government's preventive health taskforce.
A 2.5c tax on every cigarette has been proposed by Kevin Rudd's preventive health expert, Rob Moodie.
It would add about 63c to the price of a packet of cigarettes, raising an estimated $1.6 billion over four years.
While low-income families could be hit hard by higher cigarette costs, experts say the measure would help poorer smokers by making them quit.
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