财经金融新闻 烟草再次增税（在线收听）

A tax rise on the wholesale tobacco industry has been championed by health experts that say the price increase could reduce smoking habits and the medical costs associated with cigarettes.

卫生专家全力支持对烟草产业增税，称价格上涨将减少抽烟习惯，并减少因烟草所带来的医疗费用。

On May 8, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation said a tobacco wholesale tax ontotal sales would see an increase from 5 percent to 11 percent.

5月8日，财政部以及国家税务局称烟草税将从销售总额的5%增加到11%。

The last time the government raised taxes in the industry was in 2009, but those levies were applied to producers and had little impact on consumption. This time around, experts say the increases could push retail prices up by 6 to 8 percent.

政府最近一次提高烟草税还是在2009年，但是当时只对生产者征税，对消费市场的影响很小。专家称这次的零售价格将从6%提升到8%。

Anti-smoking campaigners have been calling on the government to discourage smoking through higher taxes, which may not only lower demand for cigarettes but will generate fiscal income. China had more than 300 million smokers at the end of last year and some 130 billion packs of cigarettes were sold in 2014 alone, health officials said.

禁烟人士一直呼吁政府通过增税来减少吸烟，增税不仅仅会降低需求量，还能够增加财政收入。截止到去年年底，中国烟民超过了3000万人，仅2014年就销售了1亿3000万盒香烟，这是卫生组织官员所说。

The country is a member of the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, an international treaty that is intended to reduce tobacco-related diseases and deaths. In October, the WHO suggested that 70 percent of each pack of cigarettes should be taxes. Experts say the figure in China stands at 40 to 46 percent.

中国是《世界卫生组织烟草控制框架公约》的成员国，这项国际公约旨在减少因烟草所引发的疾病以及死亡。10月份，世卫组织称每盒香烟的70%应该来源于税。有专家称中国的这一数字在40-46%之间。

For Caixin Online, this is Diana Bates.

这是戴安娜·贝茨为您带来的财新新闻报道。