The government will pocket $360 million over four years from raising the tax on “roll your own” tobacco.
Tax rates on tobacco are currently calculated under the assumption that the average cigarette contains 0.8g of tobacco, when actually it’s less than that.
From September 2017, that will change, and rollie tobacco will be taxed assuming there’s 0.7g of tobacco in a cigarette.
So, a 50g pack of tobacco would have previously been taxed using a figure of 62.5 cigarettes. Under the changes, that same pack will be taxed as containing 71.5.
BuzzFeed News understands the government has no figures on how this actually might affect the price of a pouch of tobacco.
There’s also a swag of new levies on other products, including bananas, avocados and tea tree oil.
Bananas are becoming slightly more expensive – half a cent per kilo – at the request of the Australian Banana Growers Council. The money raised will be used to pay back the government the $3 million given to the industry to deal with Panama disease.
Tea tree oil will now attract a levy on 25c per kilo, which will go towards research and development.
There’s also a new levy on avocados – but millennials trying to enjoy their avocado toast *and* save for a house shouldn’t worry.
The 0.1c levy introduced April 1 goes towards plant health, but it replaces a previous 0.1c levy that used to go towards research and development. So avocado prices shouldn’t get any more ridiculous than they already are (I mean $4 for one? Seriously?).