Cigarette tax increased to cut smoking

The government has raised consumption tax on cigarettes by between 6 and 11 percent to curb smoking and add revenue to State coffers.

The tax hike took effect on May 1 but was made public over the weekend along with a levy of 5 percent imposed on cigarette wholesalers, according to a statement by the State Administration of Taxation.

The tax has not yet been passed on to smokers and it is unclear how much of the increase tobacco companies, wholesalers and retailers will absorb.

The Chinese Association of Tobacco Control said in a statement yesterday: "Efforts to increase the tobacco tax and lift tobacco prices have proven the most effective in reducing smoking among smokers of all income levels. It will prevent young people from smoking and encourage more smokers to quit the harmful habit."

The country has more than 350 million smokers, about a third of the population. Each year, more than 1 million people die from smoking-related illnesses.

Experts estimate that the annual death toll could rise to 2 million by 2025 and 3 million by 2050 as the effects of smoking start to appear on the increasing number of today's teenage smokers.

The nation is the world's largest cigarette market, with annual sales of two trillion cigarettes. But the government has been stepping up efforts to curb tobacco consumption over the years, especially after it joined the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005.

Experts say the nation's taxation on tobacco products, about 40 percent on average, is well below that in most other countries, which is around 60 percent. Even if the entire tax increase is borne by smokers, the price of an average cigarette packet on the mainland would be less than a third than in developed economies.

Questions:

1. How many people smoke in China?

2. How many Chinese die each year as a result of smoking?

3. How many cigarettes are sold each year?

Answers:

1. More than 350 million.

2.  More than 1 million people die from smoking-related illnesses.

3. Two trillion.