Ben Harris-Roxas

Big Tobacco has fought taxes on cigarettes for decades. Its own documents say price is what scares it because it makes people quit. So it should worry us that so many seemingly sensible people want to cut tobacco tax to fight black markets.

Why their arguments fall apart under scrutiny: https://harrisroxashealth.com/2026/05/cheaper-cigarettes-wont-stop-black-markets/

#TobaccoControl #publichealth

Cheaper cigarettes won’t stop black markets

Calls to cut tobacco excise in order to undercut Australia’s booming black market sound superficially plausible, but the numbers and evidence don’t stack up. Legal cigarettes would still remain far…

Ben Harris-Roxas
May 27 at 3:02pmWeb
Show threadJP3d ago
@ben_hr This is really well written. And thanks for teasing it apart. I share your uneasiness and its nice to see the arguments laid out clearly like this.
Show threadBen Harris-Roxas3d ago
@daedalus thanks!
Show threadSimon Elvery3d ago
@daedalus @ben_hr it also seems strange that (in Queensland at least) the health department has primary responsibility for tobacco enforcement.
Show threadBen Harris-Roxas3d ago

@simon @daedalus it’s a bit mixed in other settings, with local govt having a role. In my view the greatest enabling failure hasn’t been at the state and local level though - it’s been at the Commonwealth level by letting the stuff in and not enforcing packaging req.

This has been visible in relation to shisha/arghile for a while, and for cigarettes more recently.

Show threadneoluddite3d ago
@daedalus @ben_hr as always, Rat Park q.v.