Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health (COSH) was extremely disappointed with the decision of the Financial Secretary not to raise the tobacco tax in The 2019-20 Budget. Mr Antonio KWONG, COSH Chairman emphasized, “Increasing tobacco tax is a fundamental and effective policy to further lower smoking prevalence. Tobacco tax has been frozen in the past 4 consecutive years and 7 of the last 10 years. Continuously freezing the tax will further weaken the price effect on reducing demand for tobacco.”

In January 2019, COSH sent an open letter to the Financial Secretary together with 75 organizations (click here to read the open letter) to urge the Government to raise tobacco tax by 100% in FY2019-20, and formulate the policy for annual increase in order to safeguard public health. Substantial increase in tobacco tax could motivate smokers’ intention to quit. Tobacco tax in Hong Kong was increased by 50% in FY2009-10 and 41.5% in FY2011-12 and generated a 258% and 49% increase, respectively, in the number of calls to the Integrated Smoking Cessation Hotline.

World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that increasing tobacco tax to more than 75% of the retail price is among the most effective tobacco measure to reduce tobacco use and encourage smoking cessation. According to WHO’s Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2017, over 30 countries have raised tobacco tax to more than 75% of the retail price and nearly 60 countries to more than 70%. In contrast, the tobacco tax of major cigarette brands in Hong Kong accounts for only about 64% of the retail price, which is below the WHO suggestion.

The retail price in Hong Kong of a pack of cigarettes from major brands is about HK$59, which is relatively low when compared to other developed regions such as Australia (about HK$160), New Zealand (about HK$142), the United Kingdom (about HK$98), Singapore (about HK$80) and Canada (about HK$80), which demonstrate the capacity for the increase in cigarette price in Hong Kong. To keep in line with WHO’s recommendation and with reference to the global trend, Hong Kong should substantially increase tobacco tax to motivate smokers to quit and discourage youth from picking up the smoking habit.

Smoking prevalence in Hong Kong is currently 10.0%, which is one of the lowest in the world. To achieve the Government’s target of reducing smoking prevalence to 7.8% by 2025, COSH urges the Government to strengthen its policy on tobacco tax and formulate a comprehensive plan in tobacco control, including the enactment of a total ban on e-cigarettes and other new tobacco products, implementation of plain packaging, banning all tobacco product display at points of sale, extension of smoke-free areas, placing legal onus on venue managers for smoking offences, increasing the legal tobacco sales age to 21 and tightening enforcement, as well as allocation of more resources for smoking cessation services and smoke-free education.

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