Tim Dower: Tax Cuts Or A Tobacco Free New Zealand?

Nicola Willis is blaming ACT and NZ First for the momentous dismantling of Smokefree laws. That's what she said over the weekend, telling Newshub the minor parties were insistent on reversing the amendments, not even a year after they were passed.  ACT says tobacco taxes bring in about 1.8 billion all up, and we're given to believe taking those new restrictions away will be worth about a billion.  So, handy money...especially when you've just had to sacrifice a different cash raising scheme which you'd hoped would help fund tax cuts.  But what do we read from this? Isn't this a matter of principle, a moral issue even, and where was this in the manifestos?  Are we to infer that delivering tax cuts is now more important than saving thousands from the misery of being addicted to tobacco? And if you haven't been there...believe me...it's a miserable addiction.  Are we to infer that it's really Act and New Zealand First in the driving seat...and if so...what further horrors are to come?  There'll be a lot of dairy owners heaving a heavy cough of relief...they'll still be able to stock tobacco and some will tell you it's a vital part of their revenue...it keeps a lot of them going. It also makes them a target for ram-raiders and the like. Look...smoking is a personal choice, and I'm all for personal choice.  And is it the job of governments to protect people from themselves...of course not. But honestly...if you think of the time most smokers get started...in their teens...are we equipped at that time to make a wise and informed adult decision? Of course not.  But it took legislation to achieve seat belts...helmets for motorbike riders and cyclists...an inconvenience if you want...imposed on us all to save lives.  Bottom line...if it's a choice between a tax cut...and us maybe being one of the first countries in the world to shake the tobacco monkey off our back...you can keep your tax cut.  I don't want it, if this is how you're paying for it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.