FAG END
Budget 2018 – Cost of cigarettes soar to £10 a pack as Chancellor hikes tobacco tax
Chancellor Philip Hammond has announced he'll increase the tobacco duty, hitting the elderly and the low paid the hardest
CHANCELLOR Philip Hammond has announced he'll increase the tobacco duty - and its bad news for smokers.
In last year's Budget, Hammond hiked tobacco duty two per cent above the rate of inflation, adding 28p to the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes.
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This pushed up an average pack of fags, such as Lambert & Butler, to £9.30, or £10.80 for a pack of premium pack of fags.
Hammond is now raising the tobacco duty by two per cent above September's inflation rate of 2.4 per cent, which adds roughly 24p, excluding inflation, to a pack of cigarettes from 6pm tonight.
Hand rolling tobacco will increase by an additional one per-cent.
The average pack of fags in the UK currently costs £9.91, according to figures from Statista.
But some campaign groups worry another duty increase will impoverish hard-up smokers and push them towards buying illegal cigarettes.
Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest, told the The Sun: “Tobacco duty has been rising for years as a result of the so-called tobacco tax escalator with the result that over 80 per cent of the cost of tobacco now goes to government.
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“A further increase in tobacco duty will once again hit those who can least afford it, the elderly and the low paid. As well as forcing some people further into poverty, it will inevitably encourage others to buy their tobacco abroad or on the black market."
Calling for a freeze on tobacco duty, Clark added: “Smoking may not be a healthy lifestyle choice but tobacco is a legal product and targeting smokers with punitive taxation is unfair on consumers and retailers.
“Fair’s fair. A freeze on tobacco duty is long overdue and would be welcomed by millions of smokers who are tired of being singled out by successive governments.”
Indeed, "the most effective way to get smokers to quit is not high tax but the development of new products such as e-cigarettes," Giles Roca, Director General of the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association, told The Sun.
Last year, the EU banned packs of ten cigarettes and smaller bags (under 30g) of roll-your-own tobacco, pushing up the cost of the cheapest packs.
It's hoped the laws will reduce the number of smokers across the EU by 2.4 million people.
More on Budget 2018
The Chancellor vowed that 'austerity is coming to an end' as he delivered the last Budget before Brexit.
As well as a £20billion cash boost for the NHS, he also promised additional money for defence, schools and local councils.
Mr Hammond usually announces it in November but has set the delivery date three weeks earlier to avoid important Brexit talks in November, and Halloween.
Did you know these eight facts about the Budget?
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