A TAXING TIME FOR SMOKERS?
LOW INCOME SMOKERS’ RESPONSES TO THE TOBACCO
TAX INCREASE
Nathan Cowie1, Dr Marewa Glover1, Josephine Samuelu2
1Center
for Tobacco Control Research, University of Auckland, 2Smokefree Pasifika Action Network
Tobacco-Free Aotearoa Conference 2010
November 4
The Tobacco Tax Increase
• AKA Excise and Excise-equivalent Duties
Table (Tobacco Products) Amendment Act
2010
• Introduced to the House under urgency
on 28 April 2010 by Hon Tariana Turia
• Tax on factory made cigarettes raised
10%, and further increases of 10%
scheduled for 1 January 2011, 2012
• Tax on loose (RYO) tobacco raised by
24%, and further increases of 10%
scheduled for 1 January 2011, 2012
Excise and Excise-equivalent Duties Table
(Tobacco Products) Amendment Act 2010
“increasing the price of tobacco through higher taxes is the
single most effective way to decrease consumption and
encourage tobacco users to quit”
- Dr Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organisation, Statement made at
the launch of the WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008
“There are only a few matters before this House on which one
could stand with one’s hand on one’s heart and declare that
this was a life-and-death debate. The rationale for increasing
the tobacco excise is very much in this arena. It is purely and
simply about saving lives”
– Hon Tariana Turia, Speaking to the first reading of the Excise and Excise-equivalent Duties
Table (Tobacco Products) Amendment Bill, 28 April 2010
Excise and Excise-equivalent Duties Table
(Tobacco Products) Amendment Act 2010
• “But the impact of an excise increase on tobacco is quite
dramatic ... It is estimated that after 10 years there will be
40,000 fewer smokers and 300 fewer premature smokingrelated deaths”
– Dr Paul Hutchinson, MP, Speaking to the first reading of the Excise and Excise-equivalent
Duties Table (Tobacco Products) Amendment Bill, 28 April 2010
The Bill passed that night with a massive majority:
118 votes to 4
Public Reaction to Tax Increase
The Headlines
• Upped tobacco tax unfairly hits the poorest – John
Tamihere, Sunday News 2/05/2010
• $17 a packet: Parliament socks smokers – Audrey Young
and Martin Johnston, NZ Herald 29/04/2010
• Editorial: Tough love should work for smokers - NZ
Herald 1/05/2010
• Quitline gets record number of calls - Elizabeth Binning, NZ
Herald 30/04/2010
• Price rises a big incentive to cut down – Elizabeth Binning,
NZ Herald 30/04/2010
Our Hypotheses
• People who smoke can adapt to changes in price and
Smokefree legislation in a number of ways:
• People who smoke will attempt to stop smoking
• People who smoke will reduce the number cigarettes
they smoke per day
• People who smoke will make other changes to their
smoking behaviours, such as smoking more of each
cigarette, smoking more intensively, smoking less
days of the week
Method
• Non random purposively sampled survey
• Focus on Maori, Pacific peoples, areas of high
deprivation, current and former smokers
• Survey instrument loaded on Personal Digital
Assistant (PDA) for anonymous self complete
• Participants approached in public places
• Asked about smoking behaviours at the time
of survey (September) and before tax increase
(Easter)
Recruitment Locations
We visited places we expected to find smokers
• Various locations around South Auckland
• Shopping malls
• Town centres
• Busy markets
• Sports venues
• We also collected data from Christchurch,
Waikato and Rodney district.
Participant Characteristics
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
556 people surveyed
63% Female
55% Maori, 27% Pacific
38% aged 18-24, 62% aged 25 +
55% less than $40K/year, 35% less than $20K
59% smoke within 30 mins, 34% within 5 mins
88% smoked at least once a day, 5% no longer
smoke at time of the survey
Changes in CPD since the tax increase
Changes in cigarettes smoked per day since
Easter
Cigarettes per day increased
13.0% (n=72)
Cigarettes per day stable
68.9% (n=381)
Cigarettes per day decreased
18.1% (n=100)
Changes in CPD: Under 25s subject to greater
volatility, Over 25s more resistant to change
Changes in Cigarettes smoked
per day
Cigarettes per day increased
Cigarettes per day stable
Cigarettes per day decreased
Under 25 year
olds
20.0% (n=43)
25 years and
older
8.6% (n=29)
63.7% (n=137) 72.2% (n=244)
16.3% (n=35)
19.2% (n=65)
Not much change between FM and RYO
Type of cigarettes most smoked
Factory made
54.9% (n=288)
Roll your own
45.1% (n=237)
Changes in Type of cigarettes smoked
Changed from Factory made to Roll your own
3.1% (n=17)
Changed from Roll your own to Factory made
2.7% (n=15
Stopping smoking for 24 hours or more
Since Easter (April 2010) how many times did you stop smoking for more than 24
hours?
zero times
35.1% (n=191)
once or twice
27.4% (n=149)
three to five tmes
15.6% (n=85)
six to ten times
10.8% (n=59)
more than ten times
11.0% (n=60)
Recent Quit Attempts
How long ago as
your most recent
quit attempt?
Within the last 6
months
Under 25 years
Over 25 years
49.8% (n=275)
54.4%
46.9%
6 months to 2
years ago
17.2% (n=95)
17.2%
17.2%
Longer than 2
years ago
10.3% (n=57)
3.3%
14.8%
22.6% (n=125)
25.1%
21.1%
I have never tried
to stop smoking
Use of assistance at last quit attempt
Doctors advice last time tried to quit
Yes
No
Quitline advice last time tried to quit
Yes
No
I don’t know who Quitline are
Used NRT last time tried to quit
Yes
No
I don’t know about these products
Used prescription stop smoking treatments last time tried
to quit
Yes
No
I don’t know about these products
41.0% (n=175)
59.0% (n=252)
27.2% (n=116)
70.5% (n=301)
2.3% (n=10)
41.5% (n=177)
55.7% (n=238)
2.8% (n=12)
9.6% (n=41)
78.0% (n=333)
12.4% (n=53)
Summary
• Predominantly Maori and Pacific sample of low
income and high nicotine dependence
• Half the sample had tried to quit smoking altogether
in the previous 6 months
• 65% had stopped for at least 24 hours since Easter,
many multiple times
• Negligible switching between FM and RYO –
equalisation is working
• CPD trending down overall, but a case of swings and
roundabouts
Acknowledgements
Angelik Singh, Ravi Singh, Nadene Addison,
Rochelle Newport, Yan Yan Lei, Theresa Butler
Shenella Tuilotolava, Candy Eason, Pranav
Jani, Jane Stephen, Donna Watson, Marama
Pairama, Donna Glover, Nicola MacDonald and
Maori SIDS whanau, Karen Evison and Helen
Troke-Thomas at the Ministry of Health