Masuzoe seeks tobacco tax hike to finance social security costs

Friday 05th December, 06:02 AM JST

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zurcronium at 01:29 PM JST - 5th December

Smokers like to come off as if they have a right to poison others. Its amazing and it comes from them being addicted to nicotine. First get the drug and then what comes second, who cares. Just like a heroin junky.

Since its the smoker who is the polluter, he can stay home and smoke till his lungs catch on fire. Having a beer does not invite second hand smoke ever.

Really, smoking is for losers and they should pay for being such a drag, no pun intended, on the health and welfare of society.
whynothow at 02:30 PM JST - 5th December

They shouldn t be allowed to sell the stuff in the first place.... Raising taxes? sure.... But it s still hypocrisy...
timorborder at 02:39 PM JST - 5th December

Biting the hand that feeds it? Wonder what the JT (Japan Tobacco not the editors of this esteemed website) think about all this. Giving the income that the government derives from people smoking themselves to death, there seems to be just a small amount of hypocrisy here
SimondB at 04:44 PM JST - 5th December

When living in Azabu-juban I was stunned to find that the local hospital was owned by Japan Tobbacco. What gives ? But that said, Japanese people drink like fish, smoke like chimenys, work like dogs in a concrete jungle and live longer than anyone else. How can this be? Perhaps we are missing something here.

So maybe sex, drugs and rock and roll is not the way to go.

For a long life you need no or little sex, no drugs, humanity squuezeed up against each other, plenty of alcohol and smokes. And fish. And upskirt cameras. Plus long hours at the office and neck ties and black suits when 36C. 5 day holidays to New York and Sydney and UK, and at all times to be surrounded by millions of other people. Simple really.

Daylight saving, trips to non-concreted rivers, visits to wild beaches and a walk in the forest would just kill off thousands of Japanese at an early age.

Something they are doing is right - but I would rather die early listening to the birds outside tonight then have another ten years of Yokohama station.
Sarge at 05:22 PM JST - 5th December

zurcronium - I actually agree with most of wot you said, exceptin' the part about smokers are too stupid to quit. It's not that they're stupid, it's that they're HOOKED. It's extremely hard to quit for the majority of smokers. In my case I was a very light smoker and it was relatively easy for me to quit, but that is the exception.

Simon - You're back! ( wot's the "dB"? )

"For a long life you need... plenty of alcohol and smokes."

And Krispy Kreme donuts!
Patrick Smash at 07:58 PM JST - 5th December

They have to find ways of increasing tax, and this is a good way. There is nothing wrong with high taxes on demerit goods. But if they ban smoking indoors people will start to quit, and the revenue generated in tax will fall. That is not the point of the increase.
mael at 10:12 PM JST - 5th December
Well smoking certainly isn't good for you. It would be a difficult job for someone to prove otherwise.

Perhaps (of course) it would be a good thing if no one smoked tobacco? I doubt many would disagree here either.

But the whole issue with cigarettes and smoking settles uncomfortably in my mind - A lot of misinformation, misunderstandings and hypocrisy.

Banning smoking in public buildings is something I can understand. And everyone should have the right to decide whether smoking is permitted in their private spaces. So far so good.

Everyone who is interested knows that the tobacco companies add special chemicals to ciggs to make them as addictive as possible. The same people probably also know that smoking the tobacco leaves before they are chemically treated is less harmful. - In fact the big-wigs with money who smoke will choose Havana cigars because they are basically just the raw leaf dried and rolled without chemicals. The serfs usually must make do with ready-rolled, kiln-dried leaves with a lot of things added.

One could recall stories of 'great-uncle (er) Smokalot' who used to smoke cigarettes which bubbled tar as it burned - and how he lived to be 95 etc... . Seems he wasn't particularly lucky, it was just that the tobacco used must have been less harmful than the stuff put on the market these days. So-called 'low tar & nicotine' ciggs are smoked more often these days, and these anaemic ciggs with holes in the filters seem to cause more health problems than when people smoked the 'hard stuff.' The tobacco companies determine the amount of tar and nicotine in their brands through dubious and basically dishonest methods. But this is neither here nor there I suppose.

The issue of 2nd hand smoke is also basically bs. It is funny to think of people becoming irate if they smell smoke because they have been lead to believe it is similar to smoking themselves. The air around them is probably full of airborne pathogens far more dangerous than cigarette smoke.

And also to think that cigarettes in Japan are taxed at over 60 %. This is a scandalous levy to pay on anything. Gasoline is dangerous and why isn't that taxed at a similar level? White sugar must be about the most dangerous toxin on the planet, but it is given away! Alcohol causing billions of $$$ of costly misery seems mostly ignored, antibiotics, hormones etc in our supermarket food is taken for granted. All in all it doesn't seem fair or appropriate.

And the reason for all this talk of taxing things people enjoy is for what? To cover increasing 'social costs' and medical costs? Sounds like they just want more money to pay for stifling beaurocracy and to dose the peons with ever higher doses of highly dubious drugs c/o the petro-pharmaceutical industry. For that reason I flatly reject it.

Were smokers made available to means and methods to give up that weed then it'd be welcomed by me. If smoking is really causing so many health problems then surely using tax money from the sale of cigarettes to educate the public and creating effective means for them to stop, would more than pay for itself?
- Oh! I thought of one benefit of smoking. - It'll help with a weight-reducing diet. (It speeds up the metabolism).
Maruku at 12:04 AM JST - 6th December

I'm glad he got to the point. I'm the first guy to want to bludgeon the bloke to my left or right in a restaurant who lights up a smoke while I'm eating. But hey, tolerance and understanding. Who am I to mess with his space, and if I feel I can't take it anymore, I'll tell him/her.

We need to get to a point where this sort of discourse is possible between tables, without people getting upset.
boboh at 12:49 AM JST - 6th December

60 Yen a pack!! Jeez, nearly coughed up my one remaining lung when i read this one.
mareo2 at 12:55 AM JST - 6th December

Is good that I quit buying cigaretes, is a real luxury here.
cleo at 02:54 AM JST - 6th December

to think that cigarettes in Japan are taxed at over 60 %. This is a scandalous levy to pay on anything.

Scandalously low.

Denmark 85% Ireland 84% United Kingdom 82% Portugal 81% Finland 77% France 75% Spain 75% Brazil 74% Belgium 74% Austria 74% Norway 74% Greece 73% Netherlands 73% Canada (highest) 73% Italy 73% Germany 72% Sweden 70%
zurcronium at 06:08 AM JST - 6th December

Sarge,

yes, I understand the addicted part. Many studies show that nicotine as delivered in tobacco is more addictive that heroin. But why do smokers start smoking when they all know how horrible it is. Because they are stupid. And some addicted smokers do quit as you did, why, because they finally realize how stupid smoking is.

For the poster above who said second hand smoke is not a problem, that is a smoke filled lie. Thousands die each year due to second hand smoke. Its impossible in Japan to go though a day without being attacked by smoke from selfish and clueless smokers. Kids in Japan from non-smoking homes have reactants in their blood from tobacco from second hand smoke. You think that the thousands of chemicals in tobacco smoke magically becomes healthy after smokers blow the smoke out? Only an addicted smoker would say something like that. Simple propaganda from the tobacco industry to protect their obscene profits from selling death. Must be comforting for smokers to pretend that their addiction does not do harm to others as they light up in front of train stations and while walking in crowded areas. Its all about getting the drug first and damn others who happen to be the victims.
gaijintraveller at 07:05 AM JST - 6th December

SimonB says "Japanese people drink like fish, smoke like chimenys, work like dogs in a concrete jungle and live longer than anyone else."

Maybe the secret is that they have less sex than anyone else.

Seriously though, what has happened to the 1,000 yen a packet idea? That seems more like it.

Zurcronium refers to "addicted" smokers. All smokers are addicted. In fact, nicotine is, according to serious studies, surprisingly even more addictive than heroin.
mael at 05:10 PM JST - 6th December

Most smokers I know go out of their way to avoid possibly annoying others.

All the smokers I know also have to either smoke on the balcony or under the kitchen extractor.

Smoking in a bar? If the establishment allows it then those who don't like it can accept it or go elsewhere.

I'm being reasonable here. Maybe you know of (somewhat selfish) people who don't care about their smoke, but I don't.

60% tax on anything is a crime. Isn't it illegal to grow it? I know in England you can grow it but only on the condition that it is grown as an 'ornamental' plant. I knew someone who did that and he said he got a blast from his home-grown, home-dried tobacco. Whatever floats your boat i suppose.

But a junkie will pay the asking price for his fix, so many won't give up smoking if they go up 60 Yen a pack.
Crokk at 08:19 AM JST - 7th December

Well, here cigarettes cost 3.40-4 eur / package, it didn't stop me to smoke, and I loved the price in Japan. Sadly next time i couldn't buy cigarette from vending machine anymore (i don't have the card), but, back in topic, for a real smoker 60 yen should be a cheap price to afford :)