Its evil what the government charges for cigarettes, it hurts people financially. My town is just going through withdrawals from the 3 discounted cigarettes places being shut down by police its disgusting 🫣

It's not fair that smokers are taxed more for our cigarettes. I understand why ppl buy them on the black market

Not a smoker myself but my sinuses block from the smoke

If adults want to smoke that’s there choice. Just look here u have people telling others that they shouldn’t smoke. World b a better place if peeps stop trying to tell others what to do. u don’t wanna smoke then don’t ,but not your business if I do.

Never smoked. It's absolutely disgusting. Knew as a child that would be a habit I would never take up. I personally think cig smoking is reducing, but vaping, which is JUST AS BAD (inhaling toxic chemicals just the same) is on the rise.

Smoking has reduced but vaping has increased. Black market cigarettes are rife. If you want to smoke then you must suffer and pay for it.

With the extra tax the gov. Should have programs to help qite smoking or pay for the medication or patches for people to help quit.

The cost in Australia is ridiculous as the government are addicted to the tax on tobacco. They claim the excessive tax is to prevent smoking. If that was the case why wouldn't they then offer patches etc at no cost, using the huge amount of tax? I believe that the motive behind the ban on vapes is to push people back into smoking, it’s more lucrative for the government. But, they have taxed themselves into a corner now and good luck getting out of it. They created the black market, and it’s booming. The huge drop in tax revenue is not from people giving up, it’s people buying cheap cigarettes. The cheap cigarettes are also of a less quality then the expensive taxed ones, so they are doing more damage to people’s health. What a mess the greed for tax dollars has created.

It. Is always disappointing for people to discuss as always when they do not smoke how wrong it is to smoke and they do not understand the strong additives in tobacco which keeps people addicted and how much tax is imposed on tobacco as well Wish I had black market tobacco but that would be a easy cash flow for the authorities Edited 04-Apr-25 21:11pm

The Australian government has now given me access to ciggies for $15 a pack - thanks! Just as many people are smoking, they just don’t buy them from the traditional places.

its uncool to smoke!

I don't smoke.One way to gt people to quit this nasty habit.

Smoking is stupid, period.

Don't have the stats but to my way of thinking it doesn't matter what the price is, the poor fools who are hooked will pay for the habit rather than for food!

Doesn’t really apply to me so I’m not sure of the stats

It's the same as prohibition, the black market will thrive when the price is right. People have a lot of trouble stopping.

I

Just don't smoke them I gave up many years ago and feel better for it , Oh and I went Cold Turkey

I don't smoke

Black market tobacco is being sold in the stores here in Australia and there has been a few firebombed in a lot off States which is downright scary to contend with given it seems to be random for that, but police have been looking into it and are saying its a bid by some to get more off the market.Edited 04-Apr-25 17:29pm

Those who want to smoke and enjoy doing it will always figure out a way to get their cigarettes! It is like prohibition in the 1920s here in America! Supplying booze made many rich! People always found speakeasy’s and illegal booze! Many also died from drinking “bathtub gin”, homemade liquor that often poisoned people! The same thing will and does promote people who will do anything to get their smokes, even buying products off the streets, with no quality control! I quit smoking 25 years ago, about the same time I quit drinking and doing drugs (smoking pot). And at that time, a pack of smokes was only about 4-5 dollars. My job at the time was very stressful! After I quit working and was forced to retire early, I quit all of those things!

That's just OUTRAGEOUS!!! Just quit at that point ..... I would for sure!

Vaping is a serious issue in Australian schools

If prices are too high people will look for alternatives every time and unscrupulous people or entrepreneurs will look to take advantage of a situation - like the government!

I smoke and grateful for the shop where I can buy cheap tobacco. I tried to give up smoking in every possible way. Couldn’t. Addicted? So what? It’s my life and my money - the rich can buy whatever price the government put on it, the poor can’t. And much more poor people are smoking, making them even more poor. Don’t judge the people who smoke, please.

Highly overpriced here in Australia also and the black market is flourishing. People use vapes a lot here also and the health risks of these are very high.

Never been a smoker, but it's really hard to tell how much raising the prices really helps people quit. Hopefully it at least acts as a deterrent for people starting.

Bring back the firing squad that will stop them

big business

I'm an ex smoker and wish I never started. Now I look at smoking in a way of burning your money away. If you want to quit. Get a $50 note, put some tobacco in it, roll it, get a lighter and smoke it.

same in Australia. Government greed has created black market and criminal enterprise reducing taxation revenue

They are expensive in CA, but the addicted find ways to get them. I live in a 55 and over apartment complex and for a year now, management has been accepting government vouchers so most of the new neighbors were recently homeless, and they are all smokers. They spend some of the money the government gives them on cigarettes and bum them off of each other. When they run out, they go up the street to the park and ask the homeless people that hang out there for cigarettes. It seems like it would be better just to quit!

I’m trying to quit smoking. The prices are ridiculous. There’s no way I would pay that much for cigarettes

I think that smoking might be reducing. Things like vaping seem to be increasing. Here in Australia several years ago, laws were introduced that made it mandatory for cigarettes to be kept in cupboards in stores and not openly displayed. I think that it might have made a small difference. For smokers, the price of cigarettes and other tobacco probably makes a difference in the frequency of smoking.

Smoke if you want but dont expect free medical if smoking causes lung cancer

I don't have much of a clue about all of that. I gave up smoking in 1992 and back then I would buy two cartons, one for me and one for my husband, that would cost $75.00 for two weeks. I have seen them at the supermarket for $75.00 for one packet. I really don't know how anyone can afford it anymore. No wonder there is so much crime at all these cigarette places.

I used to be a smoker, but I quit a long time ago, when the price got ridiculous. Do I miss it? Sure, but my lungs and my wallet appreciate it.

I think it's about the same everywhere just different they have went up on out cigs.but nowhere near 50$ the government making a killing getting 80% taxes from them.

I think the number of smokers in Canada has decreased. You can't attribute this to one action but a collections. Raising prices, Public Health announcements, really, really, disgusting pictures of oral cancer, peer pressure, restricted access, legislation and several others. Trouble is there are groups that are exempt from some of these measures and therefore there are fewer deterrents. Perhaps the biggest deterrent is counselling. Finding out why people start smoking in the first place and helping redirect their energies to other pursuits is probably one of the best cures for this habit. More education, starting in public school (grades K-8) with ugly photos of dental damage can exert some pressure. Lung cancer photos might help, but you can't actually see the results of that.

It's no wonder that people turn to the black market to enjoy a smoke. My daughter has somewhere she gets cheap smokes. Good on her.

Probably somewhat reducing in Canada for health scares. Idiots out there seem to think it's okay to compromise my health by not getting vaccinated, going out when they are sick and not wearing face coverings. Therefore, I should be allowed to smoke when and where I want. By the way, I get 200 cigarettes for $20 legally on the first nations reserve.Edited 04-Apr-25 14:14pm

I smoked & gave up due to the prices getting higher You get nothing out of smoking except for sickness

I am glad I live in the United States. I can get a box of tubes and a bag of tobacco and it costs me a little over 15 dollars to roll 200 cigarettes.

Increasing the cost of cigarettes doesn’t reduce smokers from smoking.

a pack of 50 cigarettes can cost 117 dollars, i know people who smoke that a day for 200 dollars they get enough tobacco to last a month, people who are still smoking will never stop, do the math over 3000 dollars legal or 200 non-legal, how the hell do families who love their smoker afford that, the government is just as addicted to ciggy tax as it is with pokies they don't want you to stop they want your money, i praise the guys selling black-market ciggies they are helping families who are caught up in this, the government caused this with their never-ending tax on our vices, remember prohibition in America ,didnt solve a thing

ban the smokers

I always buy my cigarettes from the black market

In my experience, if the person is going to smoke nothing will deter them. Unless they have a bad health scare.

I don't smoke so this doesn't really affect me. Yes the situation is bad here in Australia with the black market and shops being set on fire. The crooks don't care they are happy to bypass the government. And all the govt is doing is putting more ugly rotting flesh photos on the legal stuff. You want to put all these goomers out of business? You have the power, don't buy any of it from anyone!!! Enjoy the money you save and go on a fantastic holiday!!!!

Australia, Victoria has had a huge increase with tobacco shops being burnt down by the creeps that are illegally importing cigarettes.

I've never smoked. I just said it is easier to never start than it is to stop, Goes with other things too). It's easier to have nothing to do with it either way. Yes I've heard about black market cigatettes in Australia on the news if that is what you want to know?

I think its worked as the number of people who smoke has shrunk quite a bit

We have that many new stores that sell not just legal but illegal as well in just our suburb. Anyone can go in and buy cheap cigarettes and loose tobacco from overseas as well as flavoured vapes. As one closes down 2 or 3 new ones open. They are making big money and there will always be someone who will be willing to buy black market products.

dont know

Addiction has to be dealt with

Never smoked.

Melbourne has a black market smoke and vape store in every suburb these days...

I think the amount of people who smoke has gone down a lot because of the price of a packet cigarettes, so I guess the taxes have mostly worked.

There still as many smokers - we just dont buy smokes the gov taxes on I could spend $50 for a pack of 30 - 40 or i could spend $50 and get 100grams of tobacco, a box of papers and 2 bags of filters Why would i buy taxed smokes? Tax hikes and government CREATED this 'black market' Did they really just think people would quit? How naive

I think it's the same everywhere. Governments raking in the Mega Bucks Tax Revenue is not curing but putting more pressure on the addicted mostly unemployed sad people! Wagging the finger and upping the prices is not curing the disease!

I don't smoke but have noticed the same thing has happened here. So many tobacconists who are legal are getting burnt down as well.

Glad I don't smoke

I do not smoke .Michael

Australia is the same. The black market is booming and the government has a budget hole because tax revenue from cigarettes is down. Not because of declining smoking rates but the move to black market cigarettes to avoid the tax. Who wouldn't rather pay $15 instead of $50. And the illegal outlets make almost no attempt to conceal their activity. Disclosure - non-smoker.

Time to give up

I do not know because I do not smoke

I am a smoker. I don't think it matters to a smoker how much they jack up the price, if you are addicted to cigarettes, you will pay whatever the price is! I don't think the stats here in the USA are reducing. I buy my cigarettes from the Family Dollar store & it's not unusual to go in & have to get another style of the brand I smoke & sometimes, I have to get a whole different brand cause they are out.

Money grabber for the government.

I used to smoke. Several attempts to stop, as it is Not easy! Allen Carr's book "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking" was a god send. It helped myself & many others to quit for good.

Good on the black market on smoke. How many don't smoke get sick and passing away from nothings. My mum didn't drink or smoke but passing away young. Easy tax for the government. I don't say put tax less but keep the same. They have high tax on smoking and alcohol. Not on energy drink that caurse more sickness why it's ok seed oil vaping is ok but a smoking is bad. When vaping caurse more sickness in life. Edited 04-Apr-25 10:05am

I am a smoker and putting the prices up has not been able to make me stop buying this highly addictive product. If the government really wanted to stop people from smoking they should just stop making them available for people to buy. The real reason why they keep putting the prices up is because they know they can keep getting more tax, more money but they are only making smokers poorer and more likely to make poor choices to get it

I have never smoked, but the government in Australia has taxed cigarettes to such a limit that they now are in need of the money that it is making. It will have a big impact on general revenue. This is stupid. It also encourages the black market. If they want to get crime out of Australia, this is not helping.

U This is my opinion. The government has gone too asr I am a smoker and also I had a brain tumour removed 20 years ago and only had a 10% chance of survival I stopped smoking and my seizures returned once again we went through the long process of different medications nothing was working until the professor in neurology asked me what I had changed. My friend said she has given up smoking. He said that was the cause of the seizures returning because the nicotine hits the brain within 3 seconds. I do not smoke because I crave a cigarette but as a form of treatment. As far as I am concerned the government is using it as a tax. More lies from the government and another reason for a black market.

Who can afford it these days. The government advertised it big time many years ago & now they're taking it away. Nicotine is sooooo addictive & it's too late for some 🙄

I smoke and I have cut back but cannot quit. As a consequence I do use illegal shops which are thriving in Brisbane. Even the police frequent these premises and when you consider the cost is at least halved why wouldn't you?

I don’t smoke

I have honestly never smoked.

If you smoke now you are an addict Go and see your doctor to get help to quit

They are too expensive In Australia. I see people buying cartons (6-8) packs per week and they are $150+ and I think how can they afford that, I think wow that’s half my mortgage on smokes.

Should be targeted like drugs are! Closed down!

Just waht did anyone expect? Make them on;ly available by Prescriprion from a Quakified GP and only available from Pharmacies - that is if any will stock them. That way any shop popping up selling them can be closed down. Today almost anyone can applty for a Tobacco Seller's Licence and set up shop, scrap these licecnes so that all shops which sell them are breaking the law. How are all these imports getting in? Because not enough Customs and Excise Ifficers are being employed so that every ship, airplane, boat arriving in our waters can be throughly searched, Our politicians are wasting $AU386 BILLION on Used US Nuclear Submarines, just where the UK bit of AUKUS firs in is anyone's guess, to defend us against some as yet un-named possible invader, and 10s of billions more on other Military Equpiment - all at the behest of the USA which has betrayed us. get the Yanker's troops out of Australia. Tell our politicians to scrap AUKUS, Trump will hate it because it means all that money won't flow into the USA and that can only be a Great Thing for all of us.

what people don't realise is that when no-one is smoking, that tax shortfall will result in either increased GST or personal income tax. Probably both because our Gumbyments are so inept at everything.

See more people vaping for sure.All ages,for some reason they think it is better for them.

Seems to be less people smoking. It's just too expensive. Prices in Australia are higher than N.Z( between $55-$75 per pack depending on size and brand). In my town center there is a public smoking ban,signs everywhere and hefty fines,so don't usually see that many.

smoking costs money and health

Huge issue in Australia. DIY smoke shops popping up everywhere selling 6 and 7 dollar packs of 20's. I live in a peninsula with 300k population and we have 6 ciggy shops all selling illegal stuff

I don't smoke, I understand all too well how smoking affects the body

don't smoke!

So called 'black market' need to be clarified. In Australia, you can grow your own, and if you sell to friend it is call black market. IF you want to smoke, buy your cigarettes where you want if you can get tax free go for it. Stats are never reliable but we see smoking has reduced... But have they taken up other pastimes?

A lot of young people are going back to the roll-your-own these days as it is so much cheaper.

The number of cigarette smokers is dropping, but the number of smokers is actually rising thanks to the silliness of allowing sales of electronic cigarettes / vaping (which are not any safer nor healthier than regular cigarettes). 🙄

Yes the price of cigarettes have gone up in Australia to they are $68 a packet but it depends on the brand some are a bit lower but not much and there is what they call chop chop cigarettes that are sold for $ 40 a carten but it hasnt stopped people from smoking they go out and look for the cheapest they can get

I don’t smoke

Do people reliance how I attracted it looks.

I've never smoked 'anything' in my life! I have heard the number of smokers is dropping though because they put some pretty scary commercials on TV about what smoking can do to your body! ;-D

I am happy I was never interested in smoking.

Money goes up in smoke.

dried tobacco leaves are cheaper if you are desperate

I don't smoke

I still smoke my cigarettes are just 5.00 a pack.