Higher taxes could deter 14m smokers

英语自学网

BEIJING - About 13.7 million Chinese smokers would probably quit if tobacco taxes were higher, according to a report from the the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control .
         
        　　The CATC study, reported in Tuesday's edition of the Beijing News, suggested increasing the tax rate by about 11 percentage points, to 51 percent of the retail price.
         
        　　Higher taxes would also mean the government could collect about 64.9 billion yuan more, the report said.
         
        　　The report was jointly produced by experts from China's State Administration of Taxation and the University of California, Berkeley.
         
        　　About 350 million people smoke in China, or almost 36 percent of the population aged above 15, and about 1 million die of smoking-related ailments annually, the report said.
         
        　　北京——据中国控制吸烟协会称,如果提高烟草税,吸烟者人数将可能减少约1370万。
         
        　　《新京报》周二登载的CATC研究报告称,建议将烟草税率提高11%,增加到零售价格的51%。
         
        　　报告称,提高税收也将意味着政府税收将增加约649亿元人民币。
         
        　　该报告是中国国家税务总局和美国加州大学伯克利分校专家联合发布的。
         
        　　报告显示,中国有3.5亿吸烟者,占中国15岁以上人口的36%,每年约有100万人死于与烟草相关的疾病。