Time to slap another fiver on a pack of snout?

[R1Geezer]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8086142.stm
It seems the direct cost of smoking to the NHS is now �5bn, not to mention the indirect costs not just to the NHS, which are huge! Personally I'd slap a fiver straight on, I mean anyone stupid enough to be smoking still must be totally hooked so reel em in.
As usual a Blue Geezer badge to the first person to raise the usual irrelevant but diversionary subject!

[hc4361]

The UK Treasury earned �8.0 billion in revenue from tobacco tax for the financial year 2005-06
http://www.ashscotland.org.uk/ash/4433.html

[jake-the-peg]

The argument that smoking costs the NHS a lot of money is not as good as it seems at first.

Smokers die earlier and tend to cost the NHS less in terms of geriatric diseases that they would suffer if they lived longer.

These tend to balance each other out.

However smokers tend to cost the country more because they get sick at younger ages when they are still working and contributing to the economy

So the overall argument is sound but the details are a little different

[redcrx]

and theres the problem of those who quit smoking and yet still need the care of the NHS for years to come. If everyone quit where would the funds come from?

these things are never as simple as they seem

[ummmm]

8 billion..!!!

[sqad617]

Jake:

!Smokers die earlier and tend to cost the NHS less in terms of geriatric diseases that they would suffer if they lived longer"

Unfortunately they don't Jake. Now there is angiography, coronary stents and byepass cardiac surgery which keepe them alive for much longer than say, twenty years ago.

Yes �5 billion IS trawled from tobacco taxes, but how much of that is ploughed back in to the NHS?......very little, especially with borrowings of �75 billion to pay back yearly due to borrowing.

It IS simple.........smoking costs NHS �5bn per year...period.

[B00]

I'm with redhelen on this one.

I pay tax from my wage packet AND from my packet of ciggies, how dare you do gooders claim that I pay more for any future medical issues that may arise from a smoke related illness I may or may not get.

Why aren't you also whinging about obese people and how much they cost the NHS too? Slap an extra fiver on their McD's.

Or how about drink related admitances to hospitals- heck, why not slap an extra fiver on a pint at the pub too?

[R1Geezer]

smoking tax is volutary Helen, you choose to pay it, more fool you.

[R1Geezer]

To be fair I couldn't give a rats todger about the figures, whether smokers are net contributors or not, the main point is that it's a totally disgusting pastime that we have to suffer every day. virtually 80% of people are non smokers now so lets exploit the sad losers that are left and see how much tax we can lump on before they'll kick their disgusting habit.

Ok smokers how much would a pack have to be before you'd quit?

[jake-the-peg]

This isn't just some idea that popped ito my head from somewhere squad.

It's the results from some research done by a group at Durham University.

Where do you get your data from?

[sqad617]

Jake ...what data are you talking about?

R1Geezer in his question AND hc4361

Can you give me a link to the Durham University Research, but if not, then what are they saying?

[Verix]

This is such a ridiculous argument.

I'm pro smoking idiot but i can clearly see that the goverment gains from smokers, it losses very little. Cigarettes have a crazy amount of tax added on and who says the NHS will spend more money keeping them alive than anyone else? I could find out i have lung cancer tomorrow without ever having smoked a thing. There are plenty of people costing the NHS a bomb through illness they've gained through no fault of their own, at least smokers are (more) than paying for their care.

If you don't smoke then you value your health, your relationships and your life as a whole, but smoking is BIG business for goverment; there's no two ways about it.

[B00]

So basically R1 your argument about costing the NHS X amount is neglible, when it boils down to it you want an extra fiver slapped on ciggies because YOU hate it, and for no other reason.....

lmao- priceless!

[R1Geezer]

The indirect costs are in the 10's of billions but not easy to quantify so we don't often talk about them, But you are correct my main suggestion here is that when you have a cash cow, milk it!

[B00]

I notice that you didn't like my suggestion of hiking up the prices of McD's and booze. That couldn't be because you actually like either of those two could it? ;-)

[Gromit]

While cigarettes are legal then people are going to take the avoidable risk and smoke them.

The amount of time and resources (whether the tax pays for it or not) wasted on treating the avoidable health consequences of smoking is huge. Time which could be better spent on treating people who become ill through no fault of their own.

Anything which can help people to make this very addictive habit less attractive, whether it be even more tax, or making them stand in the cold outside pubs, is to be welcomed.

[R1Geezer]

read the above, I'm not bothered about the NHS.

[DrFilth]

squad
( Unfortunately they don't Jake. Now there is angiography, coronary stents and byepass cardiac surgery which keepe them alive for much longer than say, twenty years ago. }

if you smoke you will not be given a byepass or some of the other operations

2 years back i was refused an op on my leg because i smoke

what do the drinkers cost the nhs , go into any hospital at weekend and see the place packed out with drunks

drinking costs the nhs a lot more


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