The amount of money you pay in taxes from cigarettes do not cover the expenses of lost revenue because we have to put out accidental arson. The health costs of people taking days off work because they have some kind of infection, or get sick more often than non-smokers because of a suppressed immune system. The money spent on cigarettes that could have gone to buying other things. The fact that you could pay off debts easier if you are a non-smoker.

Trust me, I went from being a weekly drinker in 2014 to a non-drinker in 2015. After being buried in debt, I managed to save my drinking money to pay off a credit card debt that was choking me. I went from spending $100 a month on credit card repayments to $200 a month and saving money still from not drinking. Perhaps smokers giving up smoking would see the same effect on their wallet.

Australia can do without cigarette tax if smokers quit smoking en masse.

Setanta wrote on Jan 14^th, 2018 at 3:14am:


Not much. When I went about a dietary change and weight loss program, I did my darndest to just listen to other people about changing what it was I ate and to exercise more often. To date from 2015, I have spent over $200 on weight loss shakes and dietary pills in some desperate attempt to get a boost to help me with weight loss. I have also got my bike reconditioned to be able to ride and exercise in this small town. I go for walks and buy things to keep me hydrated. Just found out recently that they bumped up bottled water from $2 a bottle to $3, which means that I am paying heaps in helping shopping centres and stores profiting. I also eat at fast food outlets on rare occasions (especially in the last 3 months). But I know that my GST from those occasional purchases are going towards the government to spend on keeping smokers alive and compensate for all the wasted opportunities smokers cause.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/02/25/obesity-cost-in-australia_n_9199240....

$120 billion is the figure that the Huffington Post gives as the cost of being overweight/obesity in Australia. I bet a lot of the figure is exaggerated by the potential losses coming from what we could do as an entirely fit and healthy society, and not just from what we settle for as a 60% overweight/obese society. A lot of processed foods attract a GST to the costs of the product. But it is not like I am dying like a wounded beast from having a happy meal, like the costs of smokers have to their health.

I call bs on you not being part of the problem of elevated sickness levels. What you spend your money on is your business, I agree. But I would encourage you to quit smoking for the sake of your health and well-being. Lard arses might cost the country in a range of things. But we are not costing the community in blatant workplace absenteeism, accidental fires, nicotine rage, and not being able to buy things because of the need to waste money on burning sticks of chemically enhanced tobacco encased in paper for whatever benefit you find it does you.

Personally, I think that cigarette factories can do without adding the chemicals in cigarettes. I know it is for the purpose of making the cigarettes burning faster and decreasing the time it takes between smoke breaks because smokers do not get the full effect. But if there is some kind of compromise, there should be a reduction in most chemicals added to cigarettes.

Given that Australia is entering a decade where saturated fats in burgers and fast foods are going to be replaced by faster metabolising fats, it will not be long before we see a decrease in obesity from excess fat and sugar. So, I can hope that something can be done about making cigarettes either healthier or banned from purchase.

I think you took a wrong turn down a one-way street at high speed. I am not a fan of smoking or cigarette smoke. But, unless I was blown smoke in my face on purpose, I would not take offense to be in the presence of cigarette smoke. I light up mosquito coils for under my house. But I don't stick around to breathe in the smoke. I just wish that smokers would respect my right to breathe clean air. I have much the same contempt for cars that spew carbon monoxide. But I don't go out of my way to breathe the fumes, either.

Twenty-nine years ago, cigarette smoke meant that Dad was around. He quit when I was 10 years old because he was worried that I was going to take up the habit. His quitting meant that we ate more food, because of his cravings, and because we could afford it. Are you worried about becoming a "lard arse" if you quit smoking? You seem to have an aversion to heavyweight people being around you. And had I started smoking, I am sure that I would be in a worse condition financially, not just physically, than what I as a non-smoker have become.

I get sick once a year from all the interactions I have had with people. Aside from food poisoning, I don't think heavyweights are getting sick from fast food and taking the day off. Interesting that much of the food poisoning comes from people who like to take smoke breaks, and then rehandle food with partially washed hands.

UnSubRocky wrote on Jan 14^th, 2018 at 4:17am:


I volunteer in a kitchen to feed the homeless, they don't get food poisoning. I am almost always tasked with making the salad, you know uncooked stuff, no people sick. Blaming smokers for poor kitchen hygiene is bad form, I continually tell people to wash their hands after they have used their mobile or have left the kitchen, they don't think twice using the phone and going back to what they were doing, that's filthy. If you leave the kitchen, on your return, wash your hands, if you use your phone, wash your hands, if you (for the women) go to your handbag, wash your hands. Good kitchen hygiene has nothing to do with smokers in particular.

UnSubRocky wrote on Jan 14^th, 2018 at 4:11am:


No, I don't blow smoke on people, I don't smoke near people that do not like it, I'm not a smoking nazi. I will respect peoples wishes. I don't smoke in our house, my son and DiL do not smoke, my granddaughter lives here.

No cars spew carbon monoxide after the introduction by law of catalytic converters in the '80s.

No, I'm not worried about becoming a lard arse if I stop smoking and going by your story above it seems just having more money made you a lard arse. I don't particularly like fat people, it's gross, it's ugly, it's unhealthy, it's inviting health costs not just to you but the wider community and you don't pay the costs other unhealthy habits cost their participants. Fat people freeload because it's so unkind to point out they're lard arses and you can't hurt their feelings.

UnSubRocky wrote on Jan 14^th, 2018 at 2:33am:


It wasn't $2 a packet in the 70's. I was buying 2ozs of Drum or Bank rollie tobacco for 60 cents in 1972 - 73.

a 20 pack of tailor mades like B&H & Winfield was around 40 to 45 cents.

When I stopped smoking rollies it was 90cents per 2ozs.

Then days you didn't worry about people asking you for a smoke ... you gave them freely.

Wouldn't do that at the prices today.

It's been 41 years since I had a cigarette & I'm so glad I gave that stinking habit the flick.