Tobacco smuggling costs tax payers 2billion a year!

[taxman]

Where's the extra tax going to come from when all the smokers are on these e-cigarettes?

 

Better put a tax on the e-cigs then. Call it "licensing".

 

"The UK has already said e-cigarettes will be licensed as medicine from 2016.

 

Sales of the tobacco-free devices have boomed worldwide since bans on smoking in public places were introduced."

[kidneystone]

Better put a tax on the e-cigs then. Call it "licensing".

 

"The UK has already said e-cigarettes will be licensed as medicine from 2016.

 

Sales of the tobacco-free devices have boomed worldwide since bans on smoking in public places were introduced."

 

I thought Euro MPs had rejected a European Commission proposal to treat electronic cigarettes as medicinal products - a move that would have restricted sales.

[Nem88]

You can't tax overeating as easily as you can smoking.

 

I could go and eat at McDonalds now, it wouldn't make me obese or even give me a % risk of obesity. If you smoke, it gives you an immediate, quantifiable risk.

 

We all need to eat, no one needs to smoke.

 

The data re:tax is readily available, tax on tobacco exceeds the cost of treating addicts.

 

I understand where you are coming from, and I agree with the need to eat, and no need to smoke. (Though no one needs to eat unhealthily, but thats different)

 

However, I know a few people who never really eat (*or drink) any fruit or vegetables. Some of these people are not overweight. Now, It's their choice it is true, I don't interfere but the fact is long term eating habits as such damage your health just as much. They face a greatly increase risk of long term digestive problems as well as falling into eating habits which increase the risk of some cancers, without eating anything which is associated with lowering the risk.

 

Its will probably be a good 20 or 30 years when the effects of choice diet are completely out in the open, but were seeing changes already.

[L00b]

You can't tax overeating as easily as you can smoking.

Goes without saying. But where there's a will and all that.

I could go and eat at McDonalds now, it wouldn't make me obese or even give me a % risk of obesity. If you smoke, it gives you an immediate, quantifiable risk.

1 burger = no risk howsoever to your BMI, arteries, etc.

 

vs

 

1 cigarette = immediate lung cancer risk?

 

 

I don't envy you your black-and-white perception of things, C.

We all need to eat, no one needs to smoke.

Both issues as I raised them boil down to life choices: eat fatty foods or smoke. Don't shift the goalposts.

[avidcameron]

if its europe then you can bring back what you like, its not contraband, if this government taxes it a stupid amount then what do they expect

 

 

Posted from Sheffieldforum.co.uk App for Android

 

The law states it must be for personal use (ie not for resale)which is why every other hire van from the Dearne is kept on a compound in Calais.HMRC have impounded these vehicles and their contents.

 

---------- Post added 10-10-2013 at 14:56 ----------

 

When you can get cigarettes from Spain fpr less than half of the price, it becomes pretty clear that the government are ripping smokers off.

 

I always get my cigarettes from abroad. No chance I'm paying £8/9 a pack!

 

The government are not exploiting you,but helping you save for the expensive treatment you will need.What you are doing by avoiding UK tax is poisoning yourself and then placing a burden on others to fund your future health needs,which seems a little thoughtless and rather selfish.

[RutlandFlyer]

Ever noticed how the people who get their cigarettes tax-free from abroad are often the people who are most vocal about 'benefit cheats' 'scrounging' off the state? The irony being that benefit fraud probably costs the state less than the £2bn in lost tobacco duty.

[chem1st]

Interesting article on WalesOnline.

 

"UK tobacco manufacturers may be fuelling black market claims cross party report

10 Oct 2013 06:07

Supply of some brands of hand-rolling tobacco to some countries exceeded legitimate demand by 240% in 2011, with the report arguing that products are then brought back into the UK market without tax being paid."

 

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/uk-tobacco-manufacturers-fuelling-black-6164805

 

I recall lots of people bringing back Amber leaf from Spain, that was 'made in the UK'.

[confuse]

Ever noticed how the people who get their cigarettes tax-free from abroad are often the people who are most vocal about 'benefit cheats' 'scrounging' off the state? The irony being that benefit fraud probably costs the state less than the £2bn in lost tobacco duty.

 

Can you proof that is fact or did you just make it up to troll?

[chem1st]

Tobacco smuggling costs taxpayers nothing.

 

If anything it saves taxpayers money.

 

The more people that can afford to smoke the better. Smokers die younger, they tend to buy some tobacco with UK DUTY paid too.

 

By dying younger, smokers save the UK loads of money. they don't reach pension age, they do not become a burden on the state via the NHS and DWP.

 

People who live long healthy live are the real problem, they claim much more than they put in, and rely on the NHS to keep them alive to claim.

 

Non smokers should bow down and worship smokers. Non smokers are a burden on the UK.

[RutlandFlyer]

Can you proof that is fact or did you just make it up to troll?

 

Well the amount of benefit claimed fraudulently in the 2012/13 tax year was estimated at £1.3bn, so that bit does appear to be true. In my experience, many of the people who complain in pubs and smoking areas about welfare claimants are smoking smuggled fags, so that might be true as well.

 

---------- Post added 10-10-2013 at 17:36 ----------

 

Tobacco smuggling costs taxpayers nothing.

 

If anything it saves taxpayers money.

 

The more people that can afford to smoke the better. Smokers die younger, they tend to buy some tobacco with UK DUTY paid too.

 

Except they don't die younger. They get cancer, or emphysema, or bronchitis, or COPD, or heart disease and they struggle on for years, costing the NHS tens of thousands every year to treat them. On top of that, they probably won't be healthy enough to work until retirement age, so the state not only loses their income tax but has to support them on welfare as well.

 

Maybe Cameron and the Tories should look at cutting benefits to those with smoking-related illnesses as well as the disabled and the under-25.