Smokers to pay $20 for cigarette pack under campaign to eliminate smoking

Smokers in New Zealand will pay $20 for a pack of cigarettes under the government's budget plan released on Thursday. Polluting industries will also get hit with higher taxes.

In its annual budget, the government forecasts that rising fiscal surpluses in coming years will allow it to begin paying down its public debt.

The government plans to hike tobacco taxes by 46 percent over the next four years as it continues an ambitious campaign to eliminate smoking from the South Pacific nation by 2025. Once the taxes are in place, a pack of 20 cigarettes will cost about 30 NZ dollars, about US $20, one of the highest prices in the world.

The indigenous Maori have relatively high smoking rates, and the tax plan was pushed by the Maori Party. Te Ururoa Flavell, the party's co-leader, said it was the right thing to do, even if cost his constituents more money.

"What I do know is that there are so many of our young women, because research tells us that, who are dying because of cancer," he said. "I'm happy in my heart. If I can save more than one life, I would have done my job."

An estimated 4,500 to 5,000 New Zealanders died from smoking-related illnesses each year and 15 percent of adults - or 550,000 people - smoked daily.

A subsidy for polluting businesses that was introduced to help them out after the 2008 global financial crisis will be eliminated by 2019. After that, those businesses will need to pay more for releasing polluting gases. New Zealand is aiming to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

The government says the measure will help grow a cleaner economy. But opponents say the measure amounts to a tax hike on businesses, and consumers will end up paying more.