Some further information from the ATO about the excise(tax) on alcohol, tobacco and petroleum base products. This is the stuff that the media never print; they would rather treat everyone with contempt than to tell the truth. link: ATO Excise Rate Schedule
Excise is indexed twice a year; it is based on the rate of inflation; published in a government gazette somewhere. Also note: that the GST is applied after the excise, so in effect the federal government gets to dip its hand in the lolly jar twice.
The thing about heavily taxing highly addictive substances, is that it usually affects, in a negative way, the lower socio-economic class the greatest. So, rather than stopping the addict from substance abuse, it will cause the greatest amount of harm to the children of those addicts. The addict will first satisfy their addiction before they will feed and clothe their children. This is a very well known fact.
