National Asthma Council Australia welcomes tobacco tax hike

The National Asthma Council Australia has backed the Pharmacy Guild of Australia in supporting the Federal Government’s proposed increase in tobacco excise. Stephen Hughes, National Asthma Council Australia Director, and a community pharmacist representing the PSA on the Council’s Board, said that raising the tobacco tax was an important initiative not only to give people with asthma a better chance of achieving good asthma control but to improve health outcomes for all Australians. As reported in Pharmacy News, last Thursday, the Government announced that it will introduce a $5.25 tax hike on a 20 pack of cigarettes. Kos Sclavos, Guild national president, welcomed the tobacco tax rise, but called for “a small fraction” of the estimated $5.3 billion the tax will create...