Imbert: Higher tax on cigarettes to save smokers

FINANCE Minister Colm Imbert said tax hikes on tobacco have been proven to dissuade smokers, as he introduced a 20 per cent increase in excise and duty respectively on local and regional tobacco products, and put an additional 20 per cent on tobacco tax for extra-regional products.

In the House of Representatives on Monday he piloted a measure to effect part of his recent budget, the Provisional Collection of Taxes Order 2020, which he said affected only tobacco products.

Imbert lamented that in TT, some 33 per cent of adult males and ten per cent of adult females use or have used tobacco products.

"What I'm told, and it is quite shocking, is that we in TT have the fourth highest incidence of smoking among 13-15 year olds in this region.

"It's a very serious risk factor for us in TT. The top three causes of death measured in terms of years of life lost are tobacco-related – ischaemic heart disease, diabetes and cerebrovascular disease."

Smoking takes 12 years off the life of male smokers and 11 from female smokers, he said.

"It is a most important risk factor for our young men and women under the age of 50."

Imbert listed many types of cancer in different organs which can arise due to smoking, in addition to leukaemia.

He recalled a friend who had died from bladder cancer, relating his surprise at how quickly it had killed him.

“The effects on the human body are terrible.”

Imbert said half of all Americans who continue to smoke will die from it, with smoking responsible for 30 per cent of all deaths in the US.

“There is no safe way to use tobacco,” he said,

Saying US tobacco firms spend $150 million a day to market tobacco as supposedly glamorous, he added, “It is a very lucrative industry.”

He urged smokers, “Make the final decision to abandon the smoking habit."

Imbert said studies have shown raising taxes does cause a decrease in the demand for tobacco.

Saying it costs TT$500,000 to treat one lung cancer patient, he said the Government has decided to disincentivise smoking by these tax hikes.