Tobacco tax may increase 60 percent

A group of lawmakers are promoting a bill to raise the tax on tobacco by 60 percent in a bid to reduce the number of smokers, officials said yesterday.

Each pack of locally produced cigarettes would be levied a NT$8 (US$0.23) "special health fee," if an amendment to the Tobacco and Wine Tax Law (菸酒稅法), now under debate in the Legislative Yuan, is approved. The current tax is NT$5 per pack.

"Hopefully the hike of tobacco prices would somewhat stop the rise in the number of local smokers, particularly young smokers," opposition lawmaker Kao Ming-chien (高明見) of the People First Party said.

Their are an estimated 4.5 million smokers, with more than 200,000 of its 23 million people picking up the habit every year, official figures show.

The nation spends NT$18 billion annually on smoking-related illness, which killed some 17,500 people here last year.

Vice Minister of Finance Sam Wang (王得山) wasdoubtful a tax-increase would impact smoking.