...This tax is unoriginal and is flawed in its obvious omission of fairer alternatives.

...Increasing taxes on Alcohol and all of it's industry parts would be fairer and spread the tax burden over a very broad area of the population.

...Not taking the opportunity to increase the tax on Alcohol demonstrates two points; one, the expediency of Politicians to take the easy path of plundering further the small 16% of the population who are smokers; and two, Politicians are ignoring the critical message of the social catastrophe Alcohol has become across all communities in this country.

...Another opportunity to deal with the issue of Alcohol abuse politically is lost.

..."Gutless" I call this latest decision to tax tobacco further.

Thanks for the comments folks (except the one which accused me of being deranged.

Like many of you I too believe that tobacco is a horrible drug. As an ex-smoker I am well aware of the health impact and the horrendous addiction. I am also in favour of efforts to decrease smoking rates. However, we should be honest about our motives. Smokers are no more a burden on the tax payer than anyone else. To claim otherwise is a lie.
We also need to acknowledge the financial damage done to those who are unable to give up and the distress this causes them and their families.

Here are a couple of references and links for anyone interested though there are many more.

Preventing fatal diseases increases healthcare costs: cause elimination life table approach
http://www.bmj.com/content/316/7124/26

Why prevention can increase health-care spending
http://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/09/12/eurpub.ckr139.full

There are also many research articles that claim that reduced smoking means lower health care costs. But these inevitably fail to consider the extra costs caused by a longer life and treatment of chronic ailments of aging.

<<..The BOOZER and LOLLY industry should be closed down
lock, stock and barrel.

For too long it has poisoned DRINKERS AND sweets EATERS
and destroyed their LIVERS and rotted their bloode and caused early deaths.

How much longer will this crime be tolerated>>

as long as they can..name call
other pots as being...blacker than them

ps the cost of treating smoking..RELATED*..disease
is 800 MILLION..not 30 billion..

one day someone going to..*sue ALL*..the liars spinning the sin

smoking related..is only 15%..[of all cancers]
smoking RELATED*..is only a fraction of total hospitalization cost
even less ona ..days..per 'stay;basis

try to figure out..the social*[sic][..cost..of booze
or of diabetes treatment..[half a day..every second day]
gallons of blood

but no
go eat ya sweets/lollies/rumsdoaked tarts
drink ya booze..you got nuthing..to loose
till they..come for you..for YOUR OWN GOOD..

they will come

they..will force you to live in..*the hell..you made them create
tax debtors..that will default their debt..[spending your ill-begotten super]..peed upon the wall.

It's always a joy to read a humbug-busting article such as this.

This article is challenging the tired old 'cost to the taxpayer' argument that gets trotted out whenever politicians want to make another money grab from a sector of the community that has already been thoroughly demonised for being a supposed burden to the taxpayer.

Yes, all the evidence is in about the evils of smoking, but that's not what the author is arguing. Rudd is essentially exploiting people already debilitated by an addiction, more than twice as many of whom are unable to afford the cost increase.

After all those tobacco tax increases foisted on smokers by both sides of politics over the years, Joe Hockey suddenly decides that it is nothing more than a tax grab.

So all the Liberal ones were only done for the sake of public health and never to raise revenue?

At the same time he also claims the plain packaging legislation introduced by Labor is a restriction of trade and they would seek to remove it.

Now that's a lesson on how to hold two different views at the same time.

...And just by-way of support to one under god's protest above, on page six today of Tony Abbotts newspaper, The Australian, supporting evidence of the demographic of smokers as being from the more tortured end of society: That end comprising 85% of drug addicts and alcoholics; Juvenile delinquents 79%; the homeless 77%; prisoners at 74%; people living with psychosis 66%; indigenous Australians 47.7%; sole parents, the subject of a recent attack reducing welfare payments to that sector by $100pw (in some cases), 36.9%; people with mental illness 32.4%; the unemployed 27.6%.

...If you are part of one of these underprivileged groups, then the Labor party is not canvassing your vote quite obviously.