British American Tobacco New Zealand - Tobacco taxation

Tobacco products make their largest financial contribution to the New Zealand economy in the form of excise taxation.

The tobacco industry in New Zealand paid about NZ$1.8 billion in total taxes in 2020.

More than NZ$2.3 billion worth of cigarette and tobacco product sales by the Industry are recorded each year in New Zealand, with approximately 78 per cent of this value representing Government tobacco taxes. GST and excise paid by BATNZ alone in 2020 totalled approximately NZ$1.26 billion.

What we believe

We’re not against increases in tobacco taxes and believe manageable increments, typically in line with inflation, make the most sense: governments are less likely to inadvertently fuel black market tobacco and tax revenues are more predictable.

For people wanting to stop smoking, the keys are motivation and self-belief. We don’t build our business on persuading people to smoke or trying to stop people from quitting. We believe that if you want to quit, you should.

You can find out more about BAT's views on www.bat.com .