Until recently, Aotearoa New Zealand led global tobacco control innovation. Evidence-based policies, including sustained tobacco excise tax increases, saw large reductions in smoking rates, which will save thousands of lives.

Yet duty-free tobacco sales remain a curious anomaly and contradict efforts to reduce smoking prevalence.

At international airports and duty-free stores throughout the country, travellers can still buy cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco without paying the excise tax or GST applied at domestic retail outlets.

Cheap duty-free sales of tobacco products not only deprive the public purse of millions of dollars, they undermine efforts to become a smoke-free nation.

Excise tax works because it raises prices, and higher prices reduce smoking. Studies have consistently found every 10% increase in price reduces tobacco consumption by around 5%.

Numerous studies show that when tobacco prices rise, people smoke less and try to quit more often, and fewer young people take up smoking. Because people on lower incomes and young people are more sensitive to increasing prices, tobacco excise taxes can help reduce health inequities within these........

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