A shocking image has exposed the huge cost of smoking, with a giant food shop selling the same price as a pack of cigarettes as the government raises taxes on tobacco.
A variety of meal items, including cereal, cheese toasties, spaghetti bolognese, and snacks, cost about $53 in July 2023. In comparison, a pack of 30 Winfield Blue cigarettes from a supermarket costs $53.50.
Groceries include bananas, popcorn, bread, milk, canned tomatoes, pasta sauce, cucumbers, bananas, apples, pasta, cheese, onions, red peppers, hummus, and garlic.
Cancer Council NSW conducted the trial to show how the habit affects smokers’ health and wallets.
Looking for an easy way to save on your next grocery bill? Quit smoking,’ writes Cancer Council NSW.
Cancer Council NSW writes, ‘With the cost of living rising, it’s a good time to think about how cigarettes are affecting your finances.
Cancer Council NSW has revealed that a pack of cigarettes costs the equivalent of feeding a family breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for a day (pictured).
‘In fact, the price of cigarettes can be a powerful motivator for people to quit, and quitting smoking can be the best thing you do today for your health and wallet.’
Cigarettes will continue to cost less than a pack of cigarettes at the grocery store if the tax on cigarettes goes up again in September.
‘Proves the price of smoking is extortion from the government,’ says one Aussie.
‘I honestly don’t understand how taxing a small group into oblivion can be considered fair when they are using a 100% legal product.’ ‘It’s not about whether you hate smoking or whether you’re a smoker, it’s about what’s fair and whether it’s fair or not.’
But others say people should quit smoking to avoid the burden of higher tobacco taxes.
‘Tax the fool’, declared one.
‘And yet many parents force their children to go without so they can smoke,’ added the second.
Smokers could see their budgets tighten from September as another rise in cigarette tax announced in this year’s budget takes effect (stock image)
Australia already has the world’s most expensive cigarettes, with a typical 25-pack of Marlboros costing about $50.
Someone who smokes a pack a day will spend about $18,000 a year feeding their habit.
This has led to the growth of black market tobacco as organized crime syndicates flood the Australian market with cheap smoke.
According to Border Force, the illegal tobacco trade is worth $600 million annually.
Smokers can expect their tobacco budgets to tighten from September 1, after the Albanese government announced three tobacco price increases in the latest budget.
‘We know that a higher priced cigarette is a more attractive cigarette. We will also align the tax treatment of tobacco products so that products like roll-your-own tobacco and manufactured sticks are taxed equally.’
Mr Butler said the changes would raise an extra $3.3 billion over the next four years, including $290 million in GST payments to states and territories.
He said it would help ‘support our health system and the health of current and former smokers and vapers’.
Cigarette prices are on the rise in Australia, with the average pack costing $40