Cigarette levy ‘should help sport’

Press, 28 June 1989, Page 40

Cigarette levy ‘should help sport’

PA Auckland Sport should be funded by a levy on cigarette sales instead of sponsorship from the tobacco industry, the Coalition Against Tobacco Advertising and Promotion coordinator, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, says. . If a 2c or 3c levy was put on every packet sold, enough money would be raised to cover existing sport sponsorship, he said. “Sport would still have the money and would not be tied to a lethal product” -

The idea was based on an Australian scheme. In Victoria, a 15c levy on each packet of cigarettes was distributed to sport groups, Dr Carr-Gregg

said. Tobacco industry representatives had met the Hillary Commission for Recreation and Sport members to put pressure on sport bodies to preserve its rights to sell the drug, he said. But the commission chairman, Sir Ronald Scott, said tobacco companies had not applied any pressure. “We have been asked by the Toxic Substances Board to assess the consequences of banning tobacco sponsorship and we are gathering information.” The commission’s position would be made known to the Health Department within two weeks, Sir Ronald said.