Budget 2013: Cigarette prices to rise from 2014

Sarah Blake
News Limited Network
May 14, 2013

THE price of a packet of cigarettes will rise by about seven cents from next year.

The increase will see the Government face a potential re-election tussle with tobacco companies and retailers, who are still smarting over plain packaging laws.

Cigarettes were the only sin tax targeted by Treasurer Wayne Swan’s big-cutting Budget. Last year’s Budget saw an increase on taxes on beer and cut the number of duty free cigarettes Australians could bring home after travelling overseas.

The duty free cuts last year were set to raise $175 million by 2015.

A packet of 25 cigarettes will be seven cents more expensive from the first half of 2014, after a change in indexation that sees tobacco excise keep pace with salary rises. Budget papers did not reveal how much this would raise.

Posted in

Subscribe to our free mailing list and always be the first to receive the latest news and updates.