Officials in the Hubei province of China have come up with an interesting way to increase revenues during the economic downturn. They have issued an order to all local officials (including school teachers) to smoke a quota of cigarettes sold by the local producer.
That’s my concern when it comes to cigarette taxes. In a sense, it puts governments in the cigarette business.
China has 350 million smokers, about a million of whom die each year from smoking-related illnesses. Despite anti-smoking campaigns, cigarette taxes form a major component of China’s annual tax-take at local level.
Local authorities in Gong’an county are taking the cigarette quota seriously and have established a “special taskforce” to enforce it.
This is why, given the choice, I’d rather be an official in Humboldt than Hubei.
