£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.

 

[Spoon]

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

Keep up the good work dave.

 

[not clever]

I'd bang the price of smokes up tomorrow...........£20 for 20 tabs, why because I no longer use them.......9 years ooooooooohyeeeeeeh

 

[Slowhand]

I smoke roll ups, it costs me £12 a week.
I enjoy smoking, mostly when I have pint in my hand.

 

[electron1]

I smoke roll ups, it costs me £12 a week.
I enjoy smoking, mostly when I have pint in my hand.

Pity you cannot smoke in pub though

 

[ipf]

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

I hope so too......nowt worse than crack addicts....

 

[egg67]

How you doing Dave? Keep it up it gets easer each day

 

[andyb]

How you doing Dave? Keep it up it gets easer each day

No it doesn't.☹

 

[egg67]

Well it did for me, if it gets hard go and stand outside a busy pub and breve in the air at some point you will think I'm going to have a cig are this stinks, I went for 40 a day to 0 just went cold turkey no patches or help just stopped , shouted at every one for for about a month then one day all was ok

 

[7029 dave]

How you doing Dave? Keep it up it gets easer each day

Not to bad, been here before gave up for 11 years.!!

 

[PEG]

Well,i managed to jack in crack,coke,lsd,ludes,uppers,downers,weed,ketamine and nitrous.......and then crystal-meth come along...:sailor:

 

[grantr37]

By 2020 it will be about £23 for 20 ciggarettes and £40 for an e-cigarette...£2.80 for a can of pepsi and £1.90 for a treat size mars bar...and the huge influx of people will see the end of the nhs and £400 a month medical insurance just like in the US, the main difference will be that you won't get free family medical insurance with your job like a lot of employers do in the US ... Sweden and iceland it's about £30 to book an appointment for a chat with your doctor, thats coming here too..

 

[Barrie Patrick]

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

Won't work.........................I'm Fat but don't eat donuts :cool3:

 

[Spoon]

I'm Fat but don't eat donuts :cool3:

That's just wrong..... How can you not like donuts. Custard filling.... yum...

 

[Marvo]

....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.

The tax is probably higher than that. I pay the equivalent of 45 pence for a pack of 20 at todays supermarket prices and if I buy cigarettes illegally imported from a neighbouring country via a street vendor they're about 35p per packet. I can guarantee you our government is also taxing the --- of cigarettes so I'd bet the cost price of the packet before tax is <20p.

 

[hightower]

I used to smoke 40 a day, stopped cold turkey 7 years ago as wanted to pack it in on my own terms, not at the say so of the government. Still, they reckon reformed smokers are worse than never-smokeders so I'm not gonna bang the drum. If somebody wants to smoke that's their prerogative, but I agree with the recent 'banned in cars with children in' and feel that children should not be subject to it in anyway.

 

[ruston]

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

Just keep telling yourself the suffering you are going through is wasted if you light up.
Take it one smoke at a time. It can be done, I kept a smoke packet in my pocket for about two years after I chucked it.

 

[Spoon]

but I agree with the recent 'banned in cars with children in' and feel that children should not be subject to it in anyway.

I agree with you on this and I smoke. I don't smoke in the house as well. Go to the back door to have a smoke...... ( That sounds soooo wrong.... )

 

[7029 dave]

Just keep telling yourself the suffering you are going through is wasted if you light up.
Take it one smoke at a time. It can be done, I kept a smoke packet in my pocket for about two years after I chucked it.

Yeah, still off them since July, been down this road before gave up for 11 years and started again.!!

 

[Marvo]

With all the new laws and the ever increasing price I think it takes more willpower to be a smoker nowadays than it does to quit.

 

[amlu]

i remember my Grandad having a tin of home made tobacco, he bough leaves from a local farmer and cured them somehow around the fire place.
no toxic stuff added by cigarette companies. grow your own time?

 

[Barry White]

Grow your own its not against the law unless you sell it
Growing Tobacco Plants at Home

Not tried it as I dont smoke so not sure if it will taste the same.