Australia’s tobacco tax revenue during the financial year to the end of June, at A$5.45 billion, was down by 5.9 per cent on the A$5.79 billion that the treasury had estimated in the May budget, according to an Australian Associated Press story relayed by the TMA.
Finance Minister, Penny Wong, said the federal government’s anti-smoking measures were likely to have caused the revenue decline.
“The government’s campaign is the right thing to do and it may well be having an effect,” Wong added.
The government increased cigarette tax by 25 percent in April 2010.