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LETTER: Exclude tobacco from inflation index 

Jump to full article: The Australian (au), 2010-07-30
Author: Julie Williams, Randwick, NSW

Intro:

I question why our measure of inflation includes alcohol and tobacco, as neither product is a necessity of life, and fewer and fewer people are actually smoking. If the CPI had risen much further in the June quarter, all home owners with a mortgage would have been paying a considerably higher amount per month (contributing in its own way to inflation).

I would make a plea to the Australian Bureau of Statistics to remove alcohol and tobacco prices from the CPI as soon as possible, or at the very least justify why they are included.

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