Cost of smoking for the 'poor'

Yesterday I blogged, "Who can afford to smoke?"

To flesh out just how much cigarettes have risen in relation to incomes here are some numbers.

In 1974 - 40 years ago - a packet of Rothmans or Pall Mall cost 42 cents. I know because I used to buy them.

The people most likely to smoke today are Maori females. They also rely disproportionately on the DPB for their income. So let's peg 42 cents to the (basic) weekly DPB rate which, in 1974 was $26.85.

A packet of cigarettes cost someone on the DPB 1.5% of their weekly income.

Fast forward to 2014. The DPB (Sole Parent Support) rate is now $299.45 and a packet of cigarettes is $26.90 - now a whopping 9 percent of the beneficiary's (basic) weekly income.

If you are Maori and smoke, you'd have to be a masochist to vote for either the Maori or Mana Parties, both instrumental to the ongoing tax hikes and now, a 75% cut to the duty free allowance.