Tobacco Tax Increase?

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health wants to increase tobacco tax to persuade more smokers to quit.

17:30 13 October 2015

Tobacco tax must increase from 2per cent above inflation each year to 5per cent, says the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health. The group said that it will persuade more smokers to quit and the move can generate up to £100m per year that can be used on anti-smoking projects.

 

In their report, the group said that the move can cut the number of smokers in half leading to a reduced demand on the NHS.

Group chairman Bob Blackman, Conservative MP for Harrow East, said: "Smokers don't just die early, they suffer many years of disease and disability before they do, putting pressure not just on the NHS, but additional disability and social care costs and reduced income tax.

"Every pound invested over the next five years could deliver £11 to the public purse."

 

Andrea Crossfield, chief executive of Tobacco Free Futures, said that the policy will be supported by the public.

She said: "What we need to see is fewer people smoking and that is a government ambition, to create a tobacco-free generation.

"None of us want to see our children starting to smoke."