New Zealand scraps world-first smoking ‘generation ban’ to fund tax cuts

Why benefit society when you can just fuck it over whilst profiting from short term gains.

God I hate how this planet functions. Tax the fucking rich already.

This headline SCREAMS 'conservative':

• bad for people
• bad for healthcare
• generate tax cuts ... for the wealthy

Makes you wonder how much lobbying Big Tobacco did.

Lol sounds like this increases tax revenues by increasing the number of addicted smokers buying cigarettes and then taxing the sales.

Really sound government policy there.

New Zealand is scrapping a whole lot of things right now.

10 years worth of environmental protection laws is another thing being scrapped.

I think it's more that pro-smoking plays better with their right wing voter base than taxes. That and the fact that ciggies can still be bought, so the younger generation will still be able to get them. I mean, it being illegal has never stopped any drug. The best way to get rid of smoking is just to ramp up the tax and wait for everyone to take up something cheaper. Even the most hardened smoker at my work now vape instead. Not amazing for you, but got to be better than inhaling all the crap in cigarettes.

Only the mega rich have a solid reason for caring about tax cuts. Everybody else should be clamouring for better services, as that is what will really be cut to give those billionaires more money to hoard.

The thing I find hilarious is that a few weeks ago, when there was talk of the UK doing the same sort of thing, everyone was pointing to this legislation as an example of how it has worked elsewhere.

It didn't even last a year! All it's done is slightly annoyed a handful of teenagers for a few months.

Smoking is awful, disgusting, and through the diseases it causes puts a massive burden on the healthcare system... buuuut, educational campaigns to encourage people to stop and limiting it in media/banning advertisements is definitely the way to go over yet another prohibition law.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

New Zealand’s new government will scrap the country’s world-leading law to ban smoking for future generations to help pay for tax cuts – a move that public health officials believe will cost thousands of lives and be “catastrophic” for Māori communities.

National has had to find new ways to fund its tax plan, after its coalition partner, New Zealand First, rejected a proposal to let foreign buyers back into the property market.

“Coming back to those extra sources of revenue and other savings areas that will help us to fund the tax reduction, we have to remember that the changes to the smoke-free legislation had a significant impact on the Government books – with about $1bn there.”

But public health experts have expressed shock at the policy reversal, saying it could cost up to 5,000 lives a year, and be particularly detrimental to Māori, who have higher smoking rates.

Te Morenga highlighted recent modelling that showed the regulations would save $1.3bn in health system costs over the next 20 years, if fully implemented, and would reduce mortality rates by 22% for women, and 9% for men.

“This move suggests a disregard for the voices of the communities most affected by tobacco harm – favouring economic interests,” said chief executive Jason Alexander.

The original article contains 601 words, the summary contains 211 words. Saved 65%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

How very evil of them. I personally don't think smoking, or any other substances should be banned. But they just admitted they think they should be banned, but won't ban them because they'd rather have the money. Exchanging people's lives for profit.

Awful reason, but fuck these laws. Declaring a person forever disqualified from what other people will still be allowed to do is obviously not the same thing as 'you must be 18.' It is infuriating how many people pretend there's no difference.

Ban smoking for everyone or don't ban smoking. Trying to be "clever" about equality under the law is just fresh discrimination.

You want money? Tax the companies, not the customers. Take as much as you like. The alternative is, they don't get to exist.

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Y’know, I gotta admit, I would have never pegged this article as one that would make my notifications go wild. 🤣

The leading Māori public health organisation, Hāpai te Hauora, said the reversal will be “catastrophic for Māori communities”.

It's not a good idea to tell conservatives how policies would potentially harm the vulnerable, the poor, the excluded.

It was a cowardly way to enact a law.

This article uncovers an awful cancer of the platform: There are way too many who buy any conservative narrative if you frame it as freedom.

New Zealand, highly conservative about drug use, driving, security and relationships, yet will also go to ridiculous lengths to show how cleaning with a wet mop could be better than with a broom, or using one extra layer of building paper is absolutely essential for the structural integrity of the very work flow process that the entire company follows and is actually part of the new management SIX SIGMA protocol.

Me: "dude, don't do it, the last guy who touched that broom, he got lost, we haven't seen him since, but now the brooms come back"

LOL. This is funny AF.

Well that's to be expected I suppose

I'm surprised Lemmy has this take. Why is it anyone else's right to take your right to smoking away?

Seems like a good thing to me. Let people decide for themselves, it's not the government's job to tell them what they can and can't put in their body.

Good

Considering that nicotine isn't the harmful part of smoking, the amendment they had about greatly reducing how huch nicotine a cigarette was allowed to have would have been a pretty stupid move, turning people into chain smokers.