Budget: Hunt burns £15 hole in smokers’ pockets as cigarette packs increase by £1.89
Smokers will see the price of cigarettes increase to nearly £15 as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt hikes up the price of tobacco for the first time since October 2021.
In his Spring Budget, Hunt said that the government would look to “uprate tobacco duty” which will see the price of a 20 pack of cigarettes increase by £1.89.
The measures fall under the government’s policy objectives which are an “established tool to reduce smoking prevalence and ensure that tobacco duties continue to contribute to government revenues.”
By 6pm tonight, the price of a box of Marlboro Gold will increase from £12.75 to £14.64.
“The tobacco tax hike will only add to the huge bill that smokers already pay to the Treasury,” Benjamin Elks, operations manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance told City PM
He added: “This duty is long past the point of paying for the costs of smoking, and now acts to punish law-abiding citizens who choose to smoke. The government should promise no more rate rises for the foreseeable future.”
It comes as Hunt has also hiked up the price of wine in a ‘two-pronged’ tax raid which could see the price of a some wines soar by almost 50p per bottle.
“The government’s decision to punish wine and spirit businesses and consumers with a 10% duty hike for spirits and a massive 20% for wine, from 1 August, is staggering. It is the largest increase in wine duty since 1975,” Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association.
He added: “The government’s decision to punish wine and spirit businesses and consumers with a 10 per cent duty hike for spirits and a massive 20% for wine, from 1 August, is staggering. It is the largest increase in wine duty since 1975.”