The Briefing

Tax provides revenue for the collective societal services that are critical for the prevention and management of Covid-19. Tax reform options should be included in pre-election party proposals. More importantly, we need to continue to talk about tax reform.

Debate over tobacco tax increases has intensified as research indicates potentially conflicting policy directions. In this blog, we explore how allocating a proportion of tobacco tax revenue to assist smokers, and funding other complementary measures, could help avoid unintended outcomes and support continuation of an effective policy intervention.

An article we published last week generated plenty of debate in particular on the complexities of taxing food. In this blog, Professor Nick Wilson argues that, yes, such tax packages have to be well designed (and more research would be helpful), but nevertheless that there is much that could be potentially gained by taxes on saturated fat.