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Social Development Minister Paula Bennett is warning that increasing the cost of tobacco could see more family violence.
Concerns about the impact of higher tobacco taxes on vulnerable families are raised in government documents released to ONE News today.
Both Labour and National have supported the introduction of the tax.
The tobacco tax went up 10% in April with the aim of stopping
smoking and saving lives.
But Bennett says there are downsides to the policy, with one
consequence being a likely increase in family violence.
Bennett warned in February that stopping smoking can increase stress and anxiety levels and she worries that we may see increased levels of family violence.
"Because of that sort of addiction it can be really tough on them and you see, certainly, financial hardship being increased and I think also with that sort of stress you can look at domestic violence," says Bennett.
But the Minister who pushed the price rise, Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia, denies it will increase violence.
"There is no evidence whatsoever, at this stage anyway, that it has increased levels of family violence," Turia says.
However, official papers released to ONE News highlight a number of other concerns about the impact on vulnerable families.
Experts predict the price rise will result in just 5% of smokers quitting, and for low income people who cannot quit, the impact is significant.
Someone on an after tax wage of $25,000 a year, who smokes 11
cigarettes a day, would be spending nearly 11% of their income on
tobacco by the time the full tax increase kicks in by 2013.
The government spends $55 million a year on quit smoking programmes
and some ministers want to outlaw tobacco altogether.
"Our goal would be to see tobacco out of Aotearoa - that's our goal as a political movement," says Turia.
Another measure that Turia would like to see is to try and reduce the amount of nicotine in cigarettes.
Do you think the increasing cost of tobacco will lead to an increase in family violence? Comment below.
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Add a Comment:
Post new commentGazza_NZ said on 2010-12-30 @ 10:22 NZDT: Report abusive post
I love how the government has managed to divide us into smaller sub categories to keep us bickering amongst ourselves while they sit back and anally rape this country of its civil liberties, rights and money. Divide and conquer is an age old tactic with which to distract the masses while dirty dealings continue behind closed doors of parliament. What is even more interesting is that with the food, fuel, power and tax hikes constantl
abricossow family said on 2010-07-01 @ 19:24 NZDT: Report abusive post
Lets get real - its all about increasing taxes - whether its tobacco, alcohol or this latest tax - the emissions trading scheme (ETS) - all about tax - very little to do with saving lives or the planet. Will it increase family violence - of course it will and further deprive the lower income families even more - Tariana Turia - if you dare just ask "your own people" - Police and Work & Income staff will back it up further - but you don't want the real truth do you?