Smoke and drink more, Russia's finance minister Alexei Kudrin urged citizens yesterday, explaining that higher consumption will help lift tax revenues for spending on social services
Smoke and drink more, Russia's finance minister Alexei Kudrin urged citizens yesterday, explaining that higher consumption will help lift tax revenues for spending on social services.
"If you smoke a pack of cigarettes, that means you are giving more to help solve social problems such as boosting demographics, developing other social services and upholding birth rates," Kudrin said.
"People should understand: Those who drink, those who smoke are doing more to help the state," he said, offering unconventional advice as the Russian government announced plans to raise excise duty on alcohol and cigarettes.
Alcohol and cigarette consumption are already high in Russia, where 65 per cent of men smoke and the average Russian consumes 18 litres of alcoholic beverages per year, mainly vodka.
Russian duties on cigarettes are among the lowest in Europe.
The state recently imposed a new minimum legal price for vodka, implemented a zero tolerance ban on drink-driving and banned night-time sales of alcohol to curb abuse blamed for the deaths of thousands of Russians every year.
Alcohol abuse kills around 500,000 Russians annually and greatly impacts male life expectancy, which is lower than in other developing countries as Bangladesh and Honduras.
18 litres, the yearly vodka consumption of a Russian
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