The Surgeon General has warned that smoking is dangerous to your health. Now the Federal government said smoking is harmful to your finances, as taxes on cigarettes will rise by 25 percent by Thursday midnight.

The new tax is seen to increase the price of cigarette to $2.16 for a pack of 30.

According to the Feds, the cigarette tax hike is part of a crackdown against smoking. The move is aimed at forcing tobacco companies to use simple packaging for their cigarette products starting July 1, 2012.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told reporters in Sydney on Thursday, "The new branding for cigarettes will be the most hardline regime in the world and cigarette companies will hate it."

"The government, however, makes no apology whatsoever for what it is doing. t is the right decision for two reasons: it will help people to stop smoking and, second, it will raise more money to invest directly into the National Health and Hospitals Network."

The colorful packaging of cigarette packaging, coupled with aggressive marketing, is being blamed for the rise in the number of cigarette smoking among the young, which entices them to light a cigarette.

With the new tax, the government hops to reduce the number of tobacco consumption by six percent and the number of smokers between two and three percent, which is estimated to be about 87,000 Australians.

The additional excise tax on cigarette will earn the government at least $5 billion over four and the government said the money would be spent in hospitals.

Other rules to be introduced in the cigarette industry are the ban on putting logos, brand imagery, colours, and promotional text opther than brand and products names in the packaging. Only the standard colour, position, font style and size will be allowed in the packaging.