China is considering raising tobacco taxes and cigarette prices to reduce the number of smokers in the country, an official said Wednesday.
"China is now on the course of fiscal and tax reform, which provides us with a rare chance to take advantage of raising tobacco taxes and prices for tobacco control," Yao Hongwen, a spokesman for the
National Health and Family Planning Commission, told a press conference held in Beijing.
Yao said the commission will work together with other agencies to push hard for a tax boost as a way to protect public health.
"Raising the taxes and prices, in one respect, can reduce spending on tobacco and can lower smoking rates," he said. "At the same time, it can raise tax revenues."
Tobacco taxes contributed about 7 to 10 percent of government tax revenues in 2013.
The Chinese government raised tobacco taxes in 2009. But a report published by the World Health Organization in May said China's tax increase has had no impact on tobacco consumption because "higher taxes were not passed on to the retail price of cigarettes."
The report said tobacco in China is very cheap, and tobacco in China has become much more affordable over time as average incomes have increased with China's rapid economic growth and development.
As the world's largest tobacco maker and consumer, China has more than 300 million smokers, and another 740 million people across the country are exposed to secondhand smoke each year.
More than half of Chinese smokers buy cigarettes at less than 5 yuan ($0.81) a pack, media reports said.
According to Yao, some 1.36 million Chinese people die from smoking-related diseases annually.
The Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council released a draft regulation on tobacco control in November which said China would ban all forms of tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion of tobacco products.
In late 2013, the central government asked government officials to take the lead and stop smoking in public places.