The latest research from Cancer Council Victoria which involved a telephone poll of 4,500 smokers, has found that almost three quarters of smokers surveyed would try to quit if the price of cigarettes rose by 50%.
QUIT Australia has said the findings will be used to pressure the Government to raise cigarette taxes as quitting will provide benefits for a person's health and pocket - the average one packet of cigarettes a day smoker will not only save about $5,000 a year and benefit their health.
QUIT says smoking remains the number one cause of preventable deaths, killing 15,000 Australians each year and a small price increase would not have the same effect as a larger price rise - a price hike of 50% would take the price of a packet of 30 cigarettes to around $20.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) of those smokers who are aware of the dangers of tobacco, three out of four are eager to quit.
The WHO says as a rule raising tobacco taxes by 10% will result in a 4% decrease in tobacco consumption in high-income countries such as Australia and by about 8% in low- and middle-income countries.
The WHO also says a 70% increase in the price of tobacco would prevent up to a quarter of all tobacco-related deaths among today's smokers - tobacco kills 5.4 million people a year from lung cancer, heart disease and other illnesses and that number is expected to rise to more than eight million a year by 2030.
Smoking is one of the main risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, including cancer, lung diseases, and cardiovascular diseases and kills up to half of those who use it.