The cost of cigarettes will rise to more than $20 a pack over the next four years after Parliament passed the Government's Budget Day promise to the tax on tobacco.
The legislation passed last night will raise tobacco excise by 10 per cent increase a year for the next four years. It is expected to lift the price of a typical pack of cigarettes from about $14.30 today to $20 or more by 2016.
The Government allocated $20 million over the next four years in this year's Budget for a new innovation fund to develop ways to help more ways to help New Zealanders kick the habit.
