TAIPEI -- A group of Taiwan parliamentarians are promoting a bill to raise the current special tax on Tobacco by 60 percent in a bid to reduce the number of smokers, officials said Sunday.

Each pack of locally-produced cigarettes would be levied an eight-dollar (0.23 U.S.) special health fee, if an amendment to the tobacco tax law under debate in Parliament is approved. The current tax is five dollars per pack.

"Hopefully the hike of tobacco prices would somewhat stop the rise in the number of local smokers, particularly young smokers," opposition lawmaker Kao Ming-chien of the People First Party said.

Taiwan is home to an estimated 4.5 million smokers, with more than 200,000 of the island's 23 million people picking up the habit every year, official figures show.

The island spends 18 billion dollars annually on smoking-related illness, which killed some 17,500 people here last year.

Still Deputy Finance Minister Wang Teh-shan was doubtful a tax-increase would impact domestic tobacco consumption.

Anti-smoking advocates have joined the tax hike chorus, charging that taxes on tobacco products in Taiwan were among the lowest in the world.

Wages for an average Taiwanese worker mean he can afford a pack of locally-made cigarettes by working just 10 minutes, compared to 20 minutes in the United States, 27 minutes in Hong Kong and 40 minutes in Singapore.