Tariana is right on the button: tobacco tax compensation either isn’t needed, or it would soon go up in smoke

A bloody silly headline can be found atop a Herald report today – Beneficiaries and pensioners lose $430m

They haven’t lost a cent because they were never given it.

They shouldn’t be given it, either.

The report carries the by-line of the highly regarded Simon Collins, a bloke remembered by Alf as a bloody good hack in the Parliamentary Press Gallery some years back. Mind you, he never ever quoted the hard-working member for Eketahnuna North in his reports, a serious oversight which somewhat sullies his reputation.

Anyway, he has written about one of the consequences of the Government decision to raise the price of cigarettes.

The Government has cancelled pumping $430 million into superannuation, tax credits and benefits that would have, in effect, been direct compensation for higher tobacco taxes.