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New price on cigarettes killing us fast, smokers say
By KARYL WALKER Observer staff reporter walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
FOR some smokers, the new tax on cigarettes which came into effect Monday has burnt such a hole in their pockets that they're smoking less.
Mitchell Williams, who smokes the Craven A brand, says the new price of $30 per cigarette has caused him to cut back on his habit to match what he can afford.
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| WILLIAMS... says new tax has forced him to cut back on his consumption of cigarettes. (Photo: Garfield Robinson) |
"I used to buy one smoke for $20 but this morning I woke up and check my regular seller, them say it selling for $30. That mean say my little $100 used to buy five now I can only get three," Williams said as he lit up inside a bar on Slipe Road in St Andrew.
Single cigarettes are sold for $25 by most street vendors, while some bars and shops sell a cigarette for $30.
This means a pack will cost a smoker between $500 and $600 on the streets.
"Boy me can't afford to smoke anymore, might as well mi try and stop, because five smokes cost $150 and that can almost buy a lunch," Williams said.
A check with some Corporate Area supermarkets, gas stations and pharmacies, revealed that the Craven A and Matterhorn brands were being sold from a low of $413.40 to a high of $450, while the Rothmans and Dunhill brands were being sold for $461.51 in Lee's Food Fair on Red Hills Road.
One smoker, who gave her name as 'Vicky', said she was considering quitting the habit as the cost of lighting up had blown out of her reach.
"I smoke at least a pack a day and with this new price, I might as well stop because I cannot afford it anymore. They always tell us that smoking kills but this new price is killing us faster," a visibly upset Vicky told the Observer.
But while some smokers have complained about the effect of the new tax on their pockets, one smoker said he was so addicted to cigarettes that the price did not matter.
"Cigarette raise every year around budget time so me just take it in stride and shop around for the best bargain. Some people sell it for $25 which we were paying from before it raise so I just buy and don't complain," one man said as he purchased two packs of cigarettes from a wholesale in Cross Roads.
There were also some smokers who complained bitterly that wholesalers and retailers of cigarettes were indulging in unfair trading practices.
Howard Henry, who sells cigarettes along Half-Way-Tree Road, said some wholesalers had hoarded the product over the weekend in order to maximise on their profits when the tax came into effect Monday.
"Cigarettes were very hard to get at some places over the weekend. The people hide up the goods and never want sell it. Those things are wickedness because they bought them before the tax go on and want to sell it today with the tax. They are the real problem," Henry said.
Finance Minister Audley Shaw announced the increase in the Special Consumption Tax on cigarettes last week, which will see an increase from the current $6,000 per 1,000 sticks to $8,500 per 1,000 sticks, translating into a $2.50 increase per cigarette. The measure will earn the Government $1.84 billion, 20 per cent of which will go to the National Health Fund.
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