Comments on: New Year’s resolution #1: pay more for booze and smokes

By: Wladimir

Wladimir — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:16:56 +0000

Any guess who these trolls are? Any sign the government of Uzbekistan is pushing back on the frontlines of the blogosphere? Russia and China have those 50-cent brigades. People paid to comment on blogs. I wonder if the GoU is doing the same. Just curious.

By: Ahad_Abdurahmon

Ahad_Abdurahmon — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:06:56 +0000

oh come on guys, Uzbek budget does not depend on tax collection, otherwise the revolution could have hit Uzbekistan earlier than Ukraine (perhaps after Russia).

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:15:37 +0000

I’d be interested to hear if there have been noticeable tax increases in other sectors of the Uzbek economy. Don’t discount the need for the Uzbek government to increase tax revenues to combat the the effects of the global recession on Uzbekistan.

By: Toryalay Shirzay

Toryalay Shirzay — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:51:54 +0000

Central Asian citizens need to be aware that tobacco smoking is strongly discouraged in north America and western Europe due to its proven sickening effect on the body and that cigerette makers many which are owned by Western companies are now pushing these products on the people of central Asia and other developing countries.People should be strongly warned to stay away from these products.Also many Western companies are pushing unhealthy drinks like coca cola and similar drinks on central Asian countries and these contribute greatly to poor health in general and thus will hurt their national development.

By: Faisal Nazir

Faisal Nazir — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:52:08 +0000

10.4 Billion cigarettes? It is appallingly big number. If all that is consumed in Central Asia, one can be pretty sure to see health disaster in coming years. It is indeed satisfying that at least some smokers will be discouraged by the higher cut on their pocket while buying cigarettes. One should really welcome the move even if the purpose was not really to save people from the harm caused by smoking. Besides, that will actually save significantly in costs on public health too. If smoking deserves discouragement in advanced countries (like USA, Canada, etc.), it deserves the same in a developing country too.

By: Noah Tucker

Noah Tucker — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:14:50 +0000

There are indeed several of us, but for G.L. Penrose I am “the” Noah Tucker. (The one who used to pester you with questions and borrow your books who probably had (and still has) the worst handwriting of any student you ever had.)

Welcome to Registan.net!

By: G L Penrose

G L Penrose — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:41:51 +0000

Are you THE Noah Tucker?

By: guest

guest — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:26:33 +0000

well, I use anonymious proxy, otherwise I can’t access this website using my ISP in Uzbekistan. Moreover, I am a temporary guest – trying to contribute to discussion while on the sickness leave

anonymious or not, opinion on a substance what counts. News story is great, but had some flows I tried to illuminate. I thought it was (Western) democracy which welcomes critisism and discussion – so I shared my opinion.

As for the legislation, it is not something unexpected as the article states. There have been already measures taken on ban of smoking in public places, sale of beer within 500 meters from schools in this year. Increase of tax (or harmonisation of sin tax) on tabacco & alcohol was a matter of time. There has been public discussion (promoted by World Bank) on this issue as well. It called for using price and non-price instruments to reduce tobacco consumption.

There is a consensus that price increase will lower demand on tabacco (estimated each 10% increase in price leads to 4% drop in demand). The measure is likely to have a prominent effect on smokers.

By: Michael Hancock

Michael Hancock — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:43:59 +0000

And the anonymous Uzbekistan trolls emerge from the pipework of the Internet. Great story, Noah.

The difference between the West’s view of alcohol and tobacco and that in Uzbekistan is that public opinion actually has an effect on policy and the direction of politics. This isn’t about Western arrogance – this is just a news story produced on Registan to educate readers about the newest laws passed in Karimov’s Kingdom.

By: Realist Writer

Realist Writer — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:02:54 +0000

Yes, demand for drinking and/or smoking will go down due to the higher price. However, economicsts would say that the demand for those two goods are INELASTIC, meaning that the demand for those goods will not go down as much as other goods. People will still drink and smoke regardless of the price. Therefore, you would still make more money off the higher taxes, even when demand for those goods goes down.

You got to appuald the honesty of Ubzekistan.