Smokers apparently will be severely hit with an increase price rise as the Government raises the tax on tobacco by ten percent.

The tax on tobacco will soon to grow again on 1 January 2011, towering the prices of a packet of 25 cigarettes to more than $16 from around $14.60.

Dr. Marewa Glover, the Director for the Centre of Tobacco Control at The University of Auckland, claims that the price of single stick of light add an extra cost and will boost people to quit smoking.

A study by the Centre, released prior this year, found Maori, Pacific and low-income smokers were aiming to leave smoking after witnessing an increase in tax on tobacco in April.

Today's rise is apparently the second of three rises in case of the tobacco tax. The excise was first increased in May and another ten percent escalation is planned for next January. Smokers have also seen an additional increase in price hike with an inflation-based raise on top of the GST rise.

The stop-smoking service Quit line has been expanded in to the launch hours of the New Year weekend and public holidays to meet the soaring demands brought on by the increase coupled with New Year resolutions.