- Antara/ Arief Priyono
VIVAnews - The Indonesian government plans to increase tobacco tax by 12.2 percent in 2012, which is feared to seriously affect poverty threshold.
"Poor people smoke more," said Chief of the National Statistics Agency, Rusman Heriawan, last night.
Tobbaco use does not contribute to the decrease in poverty threshold since smoking is considered counterproductive.
"Yes, there is spending. But it does not contribute at all to the decrease in poverty threshold," he said.
Rusman said the link between tobacco tax rise and smoking cessation among poor people is minor.
Should poor people quit smoking, said Rusman, poverty threshold will be significantly modified. Today, the number of poor people who use tobacco in Indonesia is second highest after rice consumption.
"Tobacco spending among poor people is terribly high," he said.
The government expects higher income from tobacco tax in 2012, which is targeted to reach 6.4 percent.
It is estimated that tobacco production next year will hit 268.4 billion pieces per year.
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