£15 for a packet of cigarettes by 2020

[Spoon]

Cigarettes could cost £15 a pack | UK | News | Daily Express

I'm sure some of you will agree with this. I personally don't.
They have already started talking about taxing fast foods as well.
It seems that everything is going up in price, except for my wage....

 

[egg67]

I do agree I to a point , about putting the price so people can not afford to buy them but if everyone stop smoking today the Government will stop getting lots of money from the tax, so would have to look elsewhere to fill the Hole, you could argue that if people stopped smoking it would not be such a to dran on the nhs, my wife works at a top cancer hospital in London giving chemotherapy and a lot of patience do not smoke have had healthy lives but still got it,

 

[Spoon]

if everyone stop smoking today the Government will stop getting lots of money from the tax, so would have to look elsewhere to fill the Hole

That is why they are increasing the price of alcohol and fast foods...... bad for you.......
Its all a farce to get more money out of us.

 

[kevin.bl]

That is why they are increasing the price of alcohol and fast foods...... bad for you.......
Its all a farce to get more money out of us.

Being a smoker myself i can only see this as bad news, but you have to wiegh up everything that is happening by 2020 not just one article on proposals for bacci, like min wage to be £9 ph by the same time. The goverment have to find ways of giving people money and taking it back and i have to give them credit there very good at it. Taking a look at my own options being a time served spark on not too many pounds more than the new min wage would it be an easier to pack bread and smoke bacci.

 

[Darkwood]

I do agree I to a point , about putting the price so people can not afford to buy them but if everyone stop smoking today the Government will stop getting lots of money from the tax, so would have to look elsewhere to fill the Hole, you could argue that if people stopped smoking it would not be such a to dran on the nhs, my wife works at a top cancer hospital in London giving chemotherapy and a lot of patience do not smoke have had healthy lives but still got it,

This is a misguided argument, yes the goverment rakes in loads of tax from cigarettes, in fact between 2013-2014 taxation on cigarettes was 77% on the price of a pack of 20... this equates to 9.5billion into the government purse which is 2% of total revenue. Here lies the problem with using this as a key argument....

The cost to society -
Production losses from premature deaths - 3 billion
Treating smoking related issues on the nhs -2 billion
Loss of business due to smoking breaks and sickness related to smoking -6 billion
Social care cost of older smokers - 1.1billion
Costs relating from fires caused by smoking related accidents 400million

So at a glance we are looking at over 12billion and of course these figures can in some cases be contested as it can be hard to know the exact costs but they are national averaged and sampled over many years.

Now any goverment who decides to try improve the health of the nation and make it too costly to smoke will commit the goverment to a period of losses in tax revenue but after a while the financial savings overall to society will outweigh the losses + a bonus of a healthier society... we are nearing that point as the government (Labour) introduced the rolling taxation of 5% above inflation in the late nineties and it is only now starting to show the benefits to the overall health of the populous and the cost to society is falling every year now.

Don't get me wrong here I'm not Anti-smoking par-ce but do want to throw some balance into the debate ... in part to say if everyone stopped tommorow I agree the goverment would be out of pocket but a decade on and its pays for itself - the thing is though most goverments don't last more than a decade hence it took 30yrs after realising the dangers of smoking to put it into government policy to deter smokers using tax, adverts etc etc.

 

[egg67]

Was not using it as a key to a argument was just saying if all the smokers stopped to day the Government will be out of pocket and will have to make it up from something, think about it it's not just the tax on the smokes it's also the tax on the tobacco companies, the tax on the delivery costs, the tax on the people that work for the tobacco companies and finding them new jobs it would be a big hole to fill, but after have a heart attack that was to do with the fact that I smoked I would urge everyone to give up smoking

 

[telectrix]

let's make donuts £15 each. fatties cost the nhs billions too.

 

[andyb]

Also it's not totally lost revenue.

If Darkhorse is right (and I've no reason to believe otherwise) then that's over £12b spent on tobacco. If everybody just kept that money in their pocket then that would be a loss to the treasury, but they don't. They spend it on other things which means more tax such as vat or tax on alcohol or tax on wages and profit.

Also instead of taking £9.5b out of the economy in dead taxes it goes into the economy with all the benefits of that.

I'm not saying it's revenue neutral, just that it's not as simple as looking at the tax paid and saying the exchequer will lose that amount.

I too am not making a case for abolition, I'm an ex smoker and I'm not particular fussed. But I know that the saved money is spent because I'm not a penny better off. (and I don't feel any better either)

 

[andyb]

let's make donuts £15 each. fatties cost the nhs billions too.

How can you be so cruel Tel

It's me glands.

 

[Darkwood]

I need to take a neutral stance here, I may become a bit of an hyporite having opened an alcoholic thread then dropping in on smoking thread to balance the view :39:...............:54:

 

[newtothis]

I remember saying to the current wife, "if they ever hit a fiver a pack, I'd stop".
Still puffing away at nearly a tenner.

From what I've been told, most UK towns have shops blatantly knocking out cut price baccy anyway. ;-)

 

[Spoon]

I don't mind you or anyone else here balancing the views darkwood. That is why I put the post up, to get peoples opinions. I'm not sure where you get the figures from but then again I never trust them. There are so many ways figures can be manipulated.
I do like the 'Loss of business due to smoking breaks and sickness related to smoking -6 billion' one. There used to be a guy at work who used to whinge about the smokers going out and having smoke breaks and the loss of money, then he used to go and sit on the bog and read the paper for 20 minutes every day.
I don't smoke at work, just at home or when I'm out. I will quit smoking as I know it is not good for me but I just need to get my will-power up to do it first.
You do know darkwood that once the government have hit the cigarettes as much as they can they will then hit alcohol the same, then fast food and drinks with sugar in.
I am selfish so not keen on paying out for things I enjoy. I think the government should hit bad drivers. Way too many people thinks its ok to speed, go through red light and messing about on mobile phones.

 

[DuaneMHunt1976]

So instead of stoking up with gold bars under the bed I'll put cigs

 

[Spoon]

Put smokes (cigs ), alcohol and fast food.... just to be on the safe side.

 

[7029 dave]

Day 2 off the smokes, hope I don't crack.