China is considering raising cigarette prices and taxes, a health official said on Wednesday, as the world’s largest tobacco consumer fights to stub out a pervasive habit.
Smoking is a major health crisis for China, where more than 300 million smokers have made cigarettes part of the social fabric, and millions more are exposed to secondhand smoke.
Campaigners for tougher curbs face hurdles, but reforms of the tax system offer China an opportunity to rein in tobacco use, Yao Hongwen, a spokesman for the National Health and Family Planning Commission, told a news conference.
“Our country is deepening reforms of the tax system,” he said. “We believe this presents a hard-to-come-by historic opportunity to implement a tax hike for tobacco control.”
via China plans hike in cigarette taxes, prices to deter smokers | Reuters.
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