Why am I being penalised ?? RANT TIME?

Question

I've just been to the corner shop and after buying a packet of cigs was told that they're going up another 10p next week!!! So my question is why are smokers being penalised?
I don't smoke in area's where I'm not supposed too like Pubs, restaurants, bars, buses ,trains or anywhere in public places!
After having a cig I don't feel the need to smack the living daylights out of the nearset person I don't like the look of!
I've never heard of Binge smoking!
It's much safer to drive a car after having a cig!
I don't act in a way that would be classed as idiotic causing grief and danger to others if I have a cig !
My partner doesn't have erection problems if he has a cig!
I don't attack police officers and end up in the nick over night after having a cig!
According to the UK government I would have to light 40 cigarettes in my mouth at once to equal the same carbon emissions from your average car!
Don't say health, I pay for my health care.

It's not that I don't want to pay tax monkey man it's that you don't see the Alcohol going up every 2 minutes. Sice I first started smoking a pack of cigs has gone up £2.10 a bottle of scotch has gone up 40p!

Simon, I'll think you'll find that smoking is not the biggest burden of the health care.
If you do your research you'll see that Alcohol induced illness, including effets of it, violence and stupidity is the biggest burden

Answer 1

The government put the price up for the same reason dogs lick their wedding tackle....because they can.

Answer 2

Smokers are the biggest burden on the healthcare system after old age.

Someone has to pay and given that the deseases from smoking are virtually self inflicted then it is only fair to determine that smokers pay for the system they will at some stage need, probably very heavily.

I agree Alcohol and its abuse is also a burden on society however when you think about it only a minority of drinkers carry on in the way you have described, many people can drink and not do any of those things.


With smoking whether you smoke a pack a day or a pack before lunch you will at some stage need the health system.

Cigarettes are the only product in the world that when used exactly as per manufacturers instructions will harm and eventually kill the user.

Simple answer is if you dont want to pay the prices QUIT! I did (3 packs B&H special filter 12mg a day for nearly 15 years) and I havent looked back

Answer 3

Without the tax put on cigarettes the UK could not pay for the NHS. Smokers contribute 6 times more to the NHS through tax than they cost it in medical treatments. The tax money that smoking brings in pays for a large proportion of all the health care in the UK. That 10p is probably going towards a young child having a kidney transplant, drugs to treat a someones gran's bad hip, or helping a rape victim get psychotherapy.
You are lucky enough to be able to afford health care, some people can't. If you think that you should not have to contribute to helping sick and wounded people who can't afford private health care then I would recommend moving to the USA where cigarettes are cheap and people have to pay for pretty much every medical procedure. If you want to live in the UK and smoke then you will just have to accept that the government think your smoking should be taxed to help pay for hospitals and schools.
I am sorry that you don't like paying tax, I don't think anybody enjoys taxes on their favourite things (VAT on books indeed!) but we all have to pay it - even the Queen does these days!
So that's basically the reason - you as a smoker are being made to pay a heavy tax on cigarettes because the money is needed for hospitals and schools.

Answer 4

anna is wrong. lets say the tax on a pack of 20 cigs is around £4. if u paid £4 a day to a private health care insurance im pretty sure u would be covered for just about anything! if the government really wanted ppl to stop smoking they would make cigs illegal but they make too much money. smokers are paying for the health service!

Answer 5

I'm not a smoker myself, but I do think the people who smoke have the right to smoke if they so wish. You say your cigarettes are going up by 10p next week. I think the answer is clear. The government is getting quite a lot of income and the more the cigarettes go up, the more they get. Easy money at that. By putting up the price of ciggies, does not, in my opinion make much difference to the amount of people who give up due to the increase in price. I think that's an excuse that the government uses.

Answer 6

You feel better now don't you :) Okay seriously you should consider quitting. You dont want to be one of those ppl who has to walk around talking with a device who has a messed up voice and a hole in their neck. That is real and so is the cancer. I have seen too many ppl suffer from smoking and what it does to them. Its a mental thing, and with cigs going up, its no wonder more and more ppl are quiting, its smart!

Answer 7

The only thing more annoying than a Reformed Smoker is a Born-Again Christian. Or an "Adult Baptist". Now there's an oxymoron if I ever heard one.

That said, the answer to your question is simple. People want you to be like them. People want to vote themselves a raise from the Treasury. Most anti-smokers are obese, which kills more than smoking. But there are so many more fat-asses than smokers so they win.

The Nanny State approacheth....it is up to you to stop it.

Answer 8

Sin tax is a euphemism for a tax specifically levied on certain generally socially-proscribed goods - usually alcohol and tobacco. Sin taxes are often enacted for special projects - American cities and counties have used them to pay for stadiums - when increasing income or property taxes would be politically inviable. The proper name for such taxes is sumptuary tax.

This is a way for governments to justify expensive community building projects. They appease people who oppose them by taxing other things that those people oppose.

Answer 9

I would advise you to make a better investment such as spending your money into something that will reward you in the future as real estate or a mutual fund. Smoking is bad business and a lousy incvestment.

Answer 10

I quit smoking 10 years ago but I feel your pain. This is a result of all those lawsuits against the tobacco companies that all the lawmakers around the world bragged about supporting. Your best bet is to bite the bullet and quit. You can't beat these anti-smoking nazi's anyway.

Answer 11

About the same as having your own business and not being able to say that I want it to be a place for smokers. Some laws just are not right.