Petition to Remove Excise Tax on Premium Cigars in New Zealand

Petition to Remove Excise Tax on Premium Cigars in New Zealand
To the House of Representatives:

We, the undersigned, call upon the New Zealand Parliament to repeal the excise tax applied to cigars. This tax is unjustified, economically damaging, and ideologically inconsistent with the values of individual liberty and fair taxation.

Excise taxes are typically justified on public health grounds—targeting products proven to cause social harm and increase public healthcare costs. However, premium cigars are categorically different from mass-produced tobacco. They are:

  • Not inhaled

  • Consumed occasionally and recreationally

  • Used predominantly by adults in moderation

  • Not associated with addiction patterns or youth uptake

In effect, premium cigars are more comparable to fine wine or single-malt whisky than to cigarettes or vapes. Yet while New Zealand has championed a wine culture and exempted other luxury goods from punitive taxes, cigars remain overtaxed—often by hundreds of percent, solely because they contain tobacco.

This is not about public health—it is about revenue extraction and moral paternalism. The right to consume a legal product in moderation, without disproportionate financial punishment, is a matter of personal liberty.

Furthermore:

  • The current tax regime eliminates choice for discerning adult consumers.

  • Small businesses, including tobacconists and specialty importers, are crushed by margins that make the legal sale of cigars unviable.

  • The policy encourages black-market activity and personal importation, bypassing regulation altogether.

Cigars do not pose the public harm that justifies excise taxation. There is no moral, medical, or economic justification for treating cigars like narcotics or addictive mass-consumption products. The policy is a relic of ideological overreach and fails to reflect the nature of cigar use or the people who enjoy them.

We therefore respectfully urge Parliament to:

  • Remove excise tax from premium cigars

  • Treat cigars as a separate category from cigarettes or mass-produced tobacco

  • Uphold the principles of consumer choice, economic fairness, and individual liberty