drinkers and smokers to balance the budget

If you drink and smoke get ready to pay more to support the government,actually if can afford to drink and smoke even more it would be appreciated.

Extract from Yahoo


Tax planning is an important part of maximising income in any small business or personal finance strategy. But have you ever considered the taxes on your social life when planning for the tax man?

With the latest round of so called “sin-taxes” kicking in today, it’s probably time you did.

Starting today the Government will start creaming an extra 28c off every pack of cigarettes and 24c from each slab of full strength beer sold in Australia. Spirit drinkers will hand over an extra 54c in tax for a carton of pre-mixed spirits.

While it doesn’t sound like much considered in small increments, the total tax tally on sinful pleasures is enormous.

For every slab of pre-mixed spirits, $34.37 now gets guzzled by the tax man, in a slab of full strength beer you’re now shouting the tax office $15.21, and for a 700ml bottle of spirits it’ll be a $20.05 round for Canberra.

Related: Kochie's 6 Tips To Tackle Your Taxes

Ironically, the changes are part of the automatic rise in indexation introduced by Bob Hawke 30 years ago, the former Australian Prime Minister who previously held the world record for the fastest drinking of a yard of beer. He downed it in an eye-blinking eleven seconds.

But the measures don’t stop there. Hawke was a smoker too.

As part of the indexation smokers will be coughing up 11c more for a pack of 20 cigarettes, 14c extra for a pack of 25s and 16c for a pack of 30s. The tax on a packet of 40s increases by 22 cents while the excise on a pack of 50s is up by 28c to $17.72.

The new measures are expected to pour millions of extra dollars into the fragile federal Budget at a very handy time for Wayne Swan and his team.

So when balancing your books ahead of June this year, take a minute to consider the less considered areas to make tax savings. You might decide to save a bit there, and do your health a world of good too.