Why are taxes on cigarettes so high?
Basically, we have a thing called Supply and Demand. Cigarettes, being addictive, have something called inelastic demand which means that even though the tax on cigarettes increases, the additional revenue created by the tax man is still greater than the loss caused by the number of people that quit in response to the tax increase. Therefore, they will always be on a winner and the same is with alcohol and fuel. I could go into this a lot deeper but it’s delving deeper into the realms of economics and that could bore you big time!!!! Another thing you could mention within your project about tobacco smoking is whether tobacco smoking is habit forming or addictive. Two totally different scenarios. Personally, I think it is a mixture of both, but many people have different thoughts on this matter. Perhaps do a balanced survey of both smokers and non-smokers and see what results you get. Hope that helps and you get a good mark on your coursework.
The reason why they are high will be the same as here in Australia, they are trying to get the message across for people to stop smoking and stop killing them selves, too many people are dying from lung cancer at an early age, i lost my cousin and she was only 53 years old she said you always read about it but dont believe it can hapen to you.
