国产热热热精品,亚洲视频久久】日韩,三级婷婷在线久久,99人妻精品视频,精品九热人人肉肉在线,AV东京热一区二区,91po在线视频观看,久久激情宗合,青青草黄色手机视频

Tobacco tax passes after bumpy ride

Updated: 2011-06-16 07:37

By Joseph Li(HK Edition)

  Print Mail Large Medium  Small

The government on Wednesday saw its controversial bill to raise the tobacco duty by 41.5 percent (or HK$0.50 a cigarette) pass through third reading in the Legislative Council after heated debate.

Thirty-three voted for, 8 against the bill, with 12 abstentions.

The major supporting votes came from the Democratic Party and the Civic Party.

Pro-establishment parties - Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions - abstained from voting.

This increase came after a massive 50 percent rise in tobacco duty in 2009.

The tobacco duty took effect by virtue of a public revenue protection order on Feb 23, the same day when the tax increase was announced.

Had the tax increase been vetoed, the government would have had to refund to cigarette importers and distributors.

Defending the government's case, Secretary for Food and Health York Chow said the purpose of the tobacco duty increase was to protect public health.

Apart from tax the increase, Chow said the government will increase tobacco control, enhance rehabilitation services and public education to encourage people, especially young people, to smoke less or quit smoking.

The government will subsidize agencies to run for rehabilitation services, while the Hospital Authority will also provide drugs for rehabilitation for free, he said.

Despite the current tax increase, tax only constitutes 70 percent of the cigarette price, which is still a distance from 75 percent advised by the World Health Organization, he said.

Quoting government statistics, he said the number of young smokers decreased by 10 percent after the 2009 tax increase, while the demand for rehabilitation services was also on the rise.

Chow rejected the suggestion that tobacco duty increase would prompt smokers to buy illicit cigarettes, saying the government is determined to crack down on illicit cigarettes.

As to the proposal for a phased tax increase, he argued that a higher increase is a bigger incentive than a phased increase for smokers to smoke less or quit smoking.

DAB lawmaker Wong Ting-kwong, a smoker for over 40 years, said the tax increase will place a heavy financial burden on the poor smokers.

He also worried the tax increase may affect the livelihoods of over 30,000 newsstand operators.

Albert Chan from the People's Power said elderly, low-income smokers will have financial difficulty buying cigarettes after the tax increase, slamming the government for neglecting the needs of the underprivileged.

But health services constituency lawmaker Joseph Lee Kok-long said the tax increase will help people to quite smoking.

China Daily

(HK Edition 06/16/2011 page1)

鄢陵县| 湾仔区| 离岛区| 库尔勒市| 山西省| 浑源县| 萨迦县| 常德市| 密山市| 尉犁县| 远安县| 兴城市| 永平县| 金寨县| 唐海县| 双流县| 海安县| 兴仁县| 海门市| 庆阳市| 池州市| 台江县| 庆安县| 奉节县| 阳泉市| 武城县| 和硕县| 绍兴县| 化州市| 贺兰县| 克山县| 百色市| 星座| 祁东县| 绥德县| 鸡东县| 嘉鱼县| 清涧县| 新闻| 睢宁县| 云霄县|