In this world, many adults smoke cigarettes to relax and make themselves look cool. According to the website, Searchina, about one billion men and about 2 hundred million women smoke cigarettes in the whole world now. (1) Almost all smokers would begin to smoke because of having curiosity at first, and many smokers can’t stop smoking even if they want to quit. It is very difficult for smokers to quit smoking because the nicotine is addictive. In Japan, the government is planning to increase tobacco tax. Ex-prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama said that tobacco tax should be increased to 1000yen at a stroke. There are three merits to raising tax on cigarettes: to decrease the number of smokers, to prevent the damage of passive smoking, and to reduce the number of minors who smoke cigarettes.
The first reason why tobacco tax should be increased is that it can stop increasing the number of smokers. Someone who intends to smoke cigarette from now will stop buying a cigarette because the price of cigarette is very important for smokers in such a depression. Each pack of tobacco costs 320 on the average now. According to a poll on the website, mycom journal, 28, 5% of smokers will stop smoking if tobacco tax increases more than 1000 to 1999yen, and the average price which can make smokers stop smoking cigarettes is 927, 6yen in this poll. (2) Most smokers will begin to quit smoking, but some people who are depending on tobacco will not quit smoking no matter how much it costs. Even if those who people keep buying cigarettes, tobacco tax should be increased because the number of smoker is sure to be decreased in the future.
The second reason is to decrease the damage of passive smoking. The Cancer Information Service states that passive smoking causes various diseases and early death to both adults and children who don’t smoke at all. Lung cancer is related to passive smoking. The possibility people live around smokers will suffer from lung cancer by passive smoking is larger 20 to 30% than people who lived with only non -smokers. (1) There is another problem of passive smoking. It is the influence on unborn babies, infants, and small children. Generally speaking, pregnant women should not smoke cigarettes because of causing serious diseases to their unborn babies. According to The Latest Information of Tobacco, decrease of birth weight and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) due to passive smoking by pregnant women, and not only unborn babies, but also five-ten years old childrens whose parents are smokers may be taken risks of suffering from pneumonia, respiratory disease, otitis media, and something bad diseases. (1) Then, passive smoking gives bad influences for example, lung cancer, asthma, decline of lung function, on both smokers own self and around the people may be family or boyfriends or related to them. If tobacco tax is increased drastically, many smokers will quit smoking.
The third reason is to stop smoking by minors. In Universities in Japan, many smoking places are set everywhere. Some of them who smoking at there are not adults but they smoke cigarettes as if nothing is bad. Ninemns states two-year-old Aldi who lives in a fishing village on the island of Sumatra casually smoking cigarettes for the cameras shocked people around the world as it circulated on the internet. His parents claimed their child was “healthy” despite providing him with about 40 cigarettes a day. (1) Of course, in Japan, many young people under twenty years old smoke cigarettes every day. According to a website, No- Tobacco Life, the percentage of smokers who are high school students in Japan is as follow; boy is 8.5%, and girl is 3.1%. In short, three boys and a girl of high school classmates smoke every day. (2) It easy for junior or high school students to buy cigarettes by them self. Therefore, Japanese government won’t be able to break through this serious situation. If tobacco tax is increased, minors will not be able to buy cigarettes because they don’t have enough money to purchase cigarettes. According to a research by Oricon, junior or high school students are given 5376 yen per a child on the average for pocket money. (1) If the price of cigarette is increased to 1000yen, they will lose one-fifth of their allowance at one go. Therefore they will not want to buy cigarettes anymore and minors who begin to smoke will quit buying cigarettes.
In conclusion, increased tobacco tax has three merits. One merit is to stop increasing the number of smokers. Another merit is to eliminate the passive smoking problem, and the other merit is to decrease the number of minor smokers. Cigarettes are like narcotics and it is difficult to quit smoking and a lot of patience and endeavor is needed. People who want to keep smoking even if they will die because of smoking surely have freedom to keep buying cigarettes, that’ why increased tobacco tax is better way for heavier smokers than abolishing tobacco entirely. The more higher it costs, the more number of people intend to quit smoking. So, tobacco tax should be increased in Japan.
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