Originally Posted by
Blue Skies
Disbelief NZF Associate Minister of Health looking at putting a 3 year freeze on tobacco tax when outside the cancelled Smokefree legislation, the increasing cost of cigarettes is biggest deterrent to people starting smoking, & continues to cause large numbers of smokers to quit.
Incredible & not only that but denying to RNZ she had looked at this until caught out by a leak showing she had signed off on a decision paper asking advice about exactly this.
Big trust issues for Casey Costello.
How bad is it, when you have the Associate Minister of Health actually putting the profits of the Tobacco industry which kills 5,000 people a year, 13 every day from smoking, above the health of NZ'ers.
Beyond comprehension a Minister could be so stupid, ignore all the empirical evidence, in 2024!
Or, is it a ruthlessness, they don't want more smokers to quit because they need the money from the tobacco excise tax to pay for tax cuts & election promises?