Australia is one of the most expensive places in the world for cigarettes with costs reaching nearly $40 in this year’s Budget.
Treasurer Scott Morrison announced smokers will be paying even more for a packet of cigarettes this year from September 1 – it’s the second of four consecutive 12.5 per cent tobacco excise hikes.
The tax hike will see the price increase around $3 for the average pack. Last year for example, a pack of 30 Winfield Blues jumped from $32.50 to $35.20.
But it seems as though the price hikes have done little to convince smokers to quit with Australia seeing just a 0.2 per cent drop in smokers over the last three years.
Iceland saw the most people quit smoking with a 12 per cent drop, followed by Norway at seven per cent. Australia came in at number seven.
Australia is now the third most expensive country for alcohol, cigarettes and drugs.
Japan is currently the most expensive place to buy beer, wine, spirits, ecstasy, cannabis, cocaine and heroin, and is followed closely by New Zealand and then Australia.
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