Fat People Hitting Smokers In The Pocket

Rt Hon Winston Peters

New Zealand First Leader

Member of Parliament for Northland
27 MAY 2016

Fat People Hitting Smokers In The Pocket

Hiking tobacco taxes in the 2016 “Get-Stuffed” Budget is just a lot of fat people sitting in their ivory towers telling smokers what to do, says New Zealand First Leader and Northland Member of Parliament Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“The government is ignoring the huge health problems we have with obesity and is picking on low-income people again - people who are not allowed to have any freedom to enjoy something that is legal without being hit hard in the pocket and made to feel guilty.

“This has nothing to do with supporting smoking; it’s about fairness and speaking up for people’s personal freedom.

“If the government was really concerned about the most worrying aspects of public health they would have policies to deal with the tsunami of obesity.

“This shows the gross hypocrisy of the government. They want to have the country smoke-free by 2025; why not fat-free by 2025?

“The government is charging multinationals less than half one percent taxation while thumping smokers with a tax which will bring in $425 million over four years.

“What’s fair about that?

“It’s also inconsistent - there’s a fair number of MPs who want to make smoking marijuana legal.

“The risks of smoking should be made known, but this government also needs to face up to the massive problems we have with obesity, and for that matter, the abuse of alcohol also,” Mr Peters says.

ENDS

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