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New Zealand scraps world-first smoking ‘generation ban’ to fund tax cuts (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Health experts say axing plan to block sales of tobacco products to next generation will cost thousands of lives

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

They have actually admitted this is going to be revenue gathering. NZ has some of the highest tobacco tax in the world.

Basically their election promise was tax cuts, which they intended to do by allowing more foriegn ownership of real estate and taxing it.

After the election they found out they could only govern with the help of a populist party and a libertarian party.

The populists won't allow more foriegn ownership of real estate. Meanwhile the libertarians' wet dream is stuff like more ~~lung cancer~~ tobacco.

So we get shitty last minute law changes we didn't see coming, like this one.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

Wait, they want more foreign ownership of real estate?? Are they high lol. That's going to price out every last young person there from homes that's not already priced out.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

Yeah it was straight up one of their biggest election promises.

What can I say, their core base is landlords, boomers, and people who want leopards to eat faces.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

They are supported by boomers and farmers both of which own property and are happy to flog it off to the highest bidder. They don't care a jot for the rest of society not having a place to live

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Everyone could see that the foriegn buyers tax wasn't going to work. It wasn't going to raise enough revenue and was also illegal. It was obvious that something was going to get cut to pay for taxes. It's not like this wasn't pointed out ad nauseum during the election

[–] [email protected] -3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

The populists won't allow more foriegn ownership of real estate.

I don't see a single problem here. Fuck, I wish Australia would get behind this.

Also good, fuck prohibition laws. Leave them in the fucking past where they belong. If I want to slowly kill myself by inhaling burning plant matter, then that's my decision. The taxes I pay more than cover my eventual cost to the state's healthcare system. The government does not get to dictate what I do with my own body.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Actually, a LOT of studies do show that no, in most countries, taxes are far from enough to cover the cost of tobacco induced diseases.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

They are from Australia. The taxes on one single packet of cigarettes could fund the construction of a new hospital.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

NZ taxes are higher and it doesn't cover the costs here, either

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

It doesn't thou. The cost of smoking to the state is fucking massive