File photoA link has been drawn between an overwhelming spike in dairy robberies targeting cigarettes and New Zealand's tobacco tax hikes. As tobacco became increasingly unaffordable, it was stolen for personal use or to supply the black market, the paper said. By 2018, tobacco tax hikes meant the price of cigarettes was among the highest in the world, relative to income. The report said it could not definitively establish if the increase in tobacco-related robberies was caused by the pricing strategy. The paper suggests encouraging smokers to switch to vaping as a better alternative to tobacco tax.

Source: Otago Daily Times August 09, 2021 00:56 UTC