Smokers Are Being Hammered By Jeremy Hunt

The price of rolling tobacco will soar as Jeremy Hunt hammered smokers with huge tax rises in his Autumn Statement.

Announcing his latest financial package to the House of Commons, the Chancellor told MPs he would massively increase the duty on hand-rolling tobacco.

This will rise by an additional 10 per cent above the tobacco duty escalator.

There was also no relief for those who smoke manufactured cigarettes, with the duty rates on all tobacco products increased by Jeremy Hunt.

According to Treasury figures, the duty rises will see an additional £2.21 added to a 30g packet of hand-rolling tobacco.

There will also be an additional 66p added to a pack of 20 cigarettes and an additional 33p per 10g of cigars.

The tobacco duty escalator increases duty at the RPI rate of inflation + 2 per cent.

It means the cost of hand-rolling tobacco is being hiked by the rate of inflation plus 12 per cent.

The RPI rate of inflation was 6.1 per cent last month.

It’s estimated the move will rake in an additional £40 million for the Treasury next year.

The Treasury move comes as the Government bids to lower the gap in the price of hand-rolling tobacco and packs of cigarettes.

Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest, said that the Chancellor has just raised two fingers to working-class people across the country.

He said that increasing duty on hand-rolled tobacco by such a punitive amount was going to push more smokers further into poverty or into the hands of illegal traders including criminal gangs.

He said this was a clear attack on smokers from poorer backgrounds, many of whom use hand-rolled tobacco because until now it’s been cheaper than buying manufactured cigarettes, and that instead of penalising adults who smoke with punitive taxation designed to force them to quit, the Government should focus on the underlying reasons why a greater proportion of people from lower socio-economic backgrounds were smokers.

He added that it was often because of their environment, but instead of improving the conditions in which many people live, this Tory Government was determined to force smokers to give up a habit that may relieve some of the stress caused by their environment.

This move by the Chancellor is the second-largest hike in the cost of hand-rolling tobacco this year.

At his Spring Budget in March, Jeremy Hunt announced hand rolling tobacco would increase by 16.1 per cent.

This is an extremely lucrative taxation. They also know that the taxation will put plenty of money into their coffers, and they seem to be laughing all the way to the bank because they also know that it would be very difficult for people to give up smoking, especially those who have smoked most of their lives.

Smokers are now treated as second-class citizens, but drinking is way more damaging to public health.

People smoke or drink because of the pressures of everyday life. Both have increased risks to our health, and as adults we make an informed choice because everyone needs something in these ominous times, it’s either drinking, smoking or junk food, and it’s all about weighing up the risks and accepting the possible consequences.

The tax from cigarettes more than pays for the upkeep of everyone in our Government, and even some smokers die of unrelated causes, and if everyone gave up smoking then the Government and the NHS would have to find something else they could moan to us about.

In fact, cannabis is now cheaper than cigarettes!

The Government can tax tobacco all they want, but there will always be hookey shops and people around who will sell it way cheaper and smuggle it in.