Higher cigarette tax sought in Australia

SYDNEY, July 5 (UPI) -- An anti-smoking group says the Australian government should increase the taxes on cigarettes to help people quit the habit.

Mike Daub, president of the Public Health Association of Australia, said a proposal to increase the excise tax on cigarettes currently being considered by the government could prove to be an effective way to limit cigarette smoking, The Sydney Morning Herald reported in its Monday edition.

"Tobacco tax is the single most effective way of reducing smoking," Daub said, who credited public education as the second-most effective anti-smoking effort.

But Peter Dutton of the Australian House of Representatives said the proposed tax hike is more focused on filling the government's coffers than improving Australians' health.

"It's nothing to do with health outcomes; it's all to do with them trying to balance an out-of-control budget," the representative said.