Anti-smoking lobby criticises Cowen

Excise dutiesThe State body for tobacco control has accused the Government of failing to implement its own policy by not increasing taxes on cigarettes in the Budget.

In a statement yesterday, the Office for Tobacco Control (OTC) also criticised the Government for choosing to control inflation at the expense of public health when it decided to keep tobacco taxes unchanged.

Dr Michael Boland, chairman of the OTC, said that when inflation and other wage and income rises were taken into account, by not increasing taxes there was a "real" price decrease, which would make cigarettes more affordable, "especially for young people".

"The Office of Tobacco Control regrets that the public health policy, as expressed in the National Health Strategy and in the 'Towards a Tobacco-Free Society' policy, which envisaged 'real' increases annually in tobacco prices through taxation, has not been implemented in this Budget," he said.

"This policy was established on the basis of international evidence, which has shown repeatedly that price increases are the most effective means of achieving real reductions in smoking, especially among young people and children."

Dr Boland described the decision not to raise tobacco taxes as an "anomaly" which might have come about because of concerns over inflation.

"It is regrettable that this clash between public health policy and the consumer price index could not have been resolved in a manner which protects public health, especially that of young people," he said.

The decision to leave taxes on tobacco products unchanged for the first time in living memory also drew strong criticism from anti-smoking groups, which described it as "incredible".

Prof Luke Clancy, speaking on behalf of ASH, the anti-smoking lobby group, said that the Government was undoing some of the work of its ban on smoking in the workplace, which had contributed to an estimated 17 per cent decrease in tobacco sales this year.

Price increases were the "most effective" way of discouraging smoking, Prof Clancy said. He claimed that the decision would exacerbate inequality between wealthy and poorer groups, who smoke more.

"It's the poor who smoke more. It's the poor who get sick and die," he said.

The previous smallest change to tobacco taxes occurred in 2002, when a 4 cent rise in excise duty was offset by a decrease in VAT.

The decision to leave alcohol taxes unchanged drew mixed responses.

The decision not to increase excise levels was welcomed by the brewers Beamish and Crawford.

However, the publicans' lobby group, the Vintners' Federation of Ireland, criticised the Government for not decreasing excise levels, which it said stood at 10 times the level of some European countries.