Cigarette Tax: No Smart Card Licence, No Cigarettes Say Experts

Health and legal experts said smokers in Australia will have to carry a smart-card licence before they can buy cigarettes so authorities can monitor their behaviour better and direct messages encouraging them to quit to them.

According to an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia, a licence scheme would also make it more difficult for children and teenagers to buy cigarettes. The article is written by Professor Roger Magnusson from the University of Sydney Law School, and Professor David Currow, chief executive of the Cancer Institute NSW.

Based on a similar licensing proposal by Professor Simon Chapman last year, Mr. Magnusson and Mr. Currow said Australian adult smokers would be forced to buy a licence in order to purchase cigarettes. The licence should also be in the form of a smart card so that age and other information to verify age can also be found.

In the licencing proposal, cigarette retailers would have to verify and reconcile their stocks purchased from wholesalers against a digital record of cigarette sales to licensed smokers. The smart card will help create a database of smokers in Australia and their cigarette purchases. Retailers are also forced to comply with the law and prohibit selling of cigarettes to minors.

Smart card licence for smokers would help health officials detect smoking and behaviour patterns of smokers. The information can enable authorities to develop more sophisticated and personalized campaigns to help smokers quit cigarettes.

Smoking rates

Australia's plans of raising taxes on cigarettes may lower its national smoking rate to even below the rate of the U.S. In 2012, the U.S. smoking rate fell to 18 per cent compared to Australia's 18.1 per cent, based on Bloomberg data.

France had the highest smoking rate in 2012 with 30.5 per cent. It was the only country among the world's five largest economies to see the smoking rate rise in the past ten years. Japan's smoking rate declined to 21.1 per cent from a high of 32.7 per cent ten years earlier. India had the lowest smoking rate with 6.5 per cent followed by Hong Kong with 10.2 per cent.

Australian Treasurer Chris Bowen said that increasing taxes on cigarettes is the most effective way for the government to lower the risk of smoking-related diseases and premature death.