Pensioners, some of whom remember cigarettes being handed out for free during World War II, are among those who will be hardest hit by the tobacco excise increases in Tuesday's budget, a Dickson tobacconist has said.
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Phillip Penn, the owner of CG's Discount Tobacconist, said the four 12.5 per cent per annum excise increases, coming on top of a similar series of hikes under Labor from 2013 and a 25 per cent excise increase in 2010, meant the price of cigarettes would almost triple in less than a decade.
Conder's Elise Turner, 34, who has smoked for the past 15 years, said money, not health, was the issue.
"The days of passive smoking and risks to other people are long gone," she said. "You can't smoke in a bar, outdoors in a cafe or within hundreds of metres of the entrance to a shopping mall.
"To say health concerns are driving this is crap."
Ms Turner said although her opportunities to smoke were limited by her work she was being priced out of the habit.
"I really enjoy it [smoking]," she said. "But when they start talking $40 a packet I can't justify it. When I started smoking [at age 19] you could buy a carton for $50; now it [a carton] is already over $200."
Mr Penn said he, like other tobacco retailers, had been hoping for a reprieve in 2016-17.
"This year was supposed to mark the end of the four 12.5 per cent increases brought down in 2013 [when Chris Bowen was treasurer]," he said.
"Four years ago a packet of 25s was about $14 or $15. They now average $20 to $25 [depending on the brand]. By 2020 I would anticipate they will be in the high $30 a packet bracket."
A former tobacco company rep, Mr Penn is old enough at 54 to have witnessed the demise of local tobacco growing and cigarette manufacturing and the loss of thousands of jobs.
He said while governments were happy to claim credit for the reduction in over-the-counter cigarette sales they largely ignored the issue of cigarette smuggling and the sale of locally grown "chop-chop" or illegal tobacco.
"Less is being sold over the counter but you can't monitor what is being sold on the black market," he said.
Mr Penn's business provides work for three family members and one employee.
"Our clients are ordinary people," he said. "They include pensioners, business people, public servants, defence workers and even politicians."
