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Comment by toast0 | Hacker News Reader

NZ tried that cigarette ban, but walked it back so they could get juicy tax revenues. https://lite.cnn.com/2023/11/28/asia/new-zealand-smoking-ban...

Maybe split the difference and raise the purchasing age for cigarettes 6 months every year. Takes longer to get to nobody can smoke, but you'll get there eventually.

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We’d just end up in the same situation as Australia - where up to one third of all cigarettes consumed are purchased on the black market.

if this source is to be trusted it's now half https://wrdnews.org/illicit-tobacco-in-australia-half-of-all...

(I did not vet anything, I just googled your words because I wanted to know more)

It’s likely a lot more than half.

The (NZ) government that changed the approach is heavily loaded with Tobacco friendly Ministers - the expectation is that when the government is voted out (no government lasts forever) the age based approach will be bought back in.

Smoking is out of favor and has been for years. Every year that goes by there are less smokers. Eventually there will be so few that the tax revenues don't matter anymore. I can't guess when that is coming though.

It was, but vape use has taken over, and once the nicotine addiction is in place people are open to smoking again.

Also, they tried taxing cigarettes to the moon in Australia and created a multi billion dollar black market for them instead.

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