Did you notice a truly extraordinary omission from most of the coverage of Wednesday’s Budget? It’s not surprising, but it was something I found remarkable.
In all the thousands of words that I’ve read about Rishi Sunak’s measures, and the hours of broadcast commentary I’ve listened to and watched, I’ve seen and heard barely a mention of a blistering tax increase that will affect some 7 million Britons — most of them from poorer backgrounds.
I’m thinking of the staggering rise in tobacco duty, which came into force at 6pm on Wednesday, just hours after the Chancellor sat down.
This added no less than 88p to the price of 20 cigarettes — by far the biggest single-day’s rise in my lifetime — pushing the average cost of a legally acquired packet to an almost unbelievable £13.60 (yes, you read that correctly).
The staggering rise in tobacco duty, which came into force at 6pm on Wednesday, just hours after the Chancellor (Pictured) sat down, added no less than 88p to the price of 20 cigarettes
Before I go an inch further, I must declare an interest: throughout my adult life, I’ve been an extremely heavy smoker. I am apathetically addicted to tobacco. I can’t think straight without a cigarette in me, let alone write a letter or answer a column.
So weak is my willpower — and here is a shameful confession — that for many years now, I’ve been puffing my way through no fewer than 50 Marlboro Reds every day.
Habit
Until this week, I never dared add up exactly how much my disgusting habit was costing me per year, although I knew it must be a king’s ransom. But I was so taken aback by that 88p-a-packet increase that I’ve finally plucked up the courage to do the sums and face the truth. The figures I’ve arrived at horrify me.
I’ve worked out that unless I manage to kick the habit, or cut down radically, Mr Sunak’s tax increase will cost me an extra £803 a year.
This will take my annual expenditure on cigarettes to — wait for it — £12,410. To put that into perspective, it is almost £2,000 more than my entire state pension for 12 months.
So much for the finding by Deloitte, the accountancy firm, that the Budget will leave married pensioners like me a grand total of £11 per year better off! Not if we smoke, it won’t.
Now, I know that very few smokers these days get through quite as many cigarettes as I do (though in my youth, when people were allowed to puff away almost anywhere, all day long, I had colleagues who claimed to get through as many as 100 a day; don’t ask me where they found the time).
I should also make clear that I’m not claiming for one moment to be poor — unlike the majority of smokers, who tend to have low incomes, as studies have consistently shown.
Throughout my adult life, I’ve been an extremely heavy smoker. I am apathetically addicted to tobacco. I can’t think straight without a cigarette in me.
For the time being at least, while I still write this weekly column, I don’t have to rely solely on my pension to keep body and soul together. If I lost my job, however, I would certainly have to give up smoking tomorrow (though I mustn’t go putting ideas into my employers’ heads).
The price of a packet is so high that it makes me wonder where pensioners and those in much worse financial situations find the money to smoke. Do they all buy their cigarettes from smugglers — as I’m told that many do?
All I can tell you is that the latest Budget will make black marketeers very happy. I won’t be surprised if there is a spike in break-ins at tobacconists. I’d step up security, if I were in their shoes.
Of course, smoking was cripplingly expensive even before Dishi Rishi dropped his 88p bombshell — which, incidentally, he didn’t even think worth mentioning in his statement to the House, choosing to bury it instead in the small print on page 135 of the Treasury’s Red Book, which is always published on Budget day.
Addicts
The difference is that Chancellors in the past have been careful to increase duty year after year, bit by bit, so as to not shock too many addicts into giving-up.
True, they never failed to claim piously that all they cared about was smokers’ health. Their primary concern, or so I thought, was to keep those wonderful revenues coming in.
Indeed, I remember swearing to myself, back in the 1980s, that I’d give up smoking if the price of a packet ever topped £1. But when it rose by only a little above £1, I thought: ‘Oh well, just a few extra pence won’t make much difference.’ Four decades on, with 20 cigarettes now costing more than £13, I’m still at it.
But in contrast to his predecessors at No 11, Mr Sunak doesn’t appear to care that by hitting us with that 88p increase, all in one go, he risks killing the geese that lay those golden eggs. He seems to be on a mission stop the nation smoking.
Even more amazing than the extra burden on smokers is the lack of media attention.
I’m old enough to remember a time when a tax increase of only, say, 5p a packet would have featured prominently in all the news bulletins on Budget day. It would also have been splashed all over the front pages of the tabloids the following morning in huge capital letters: ‘CIGS UP 5p!’
Mr Sunak doesn’t appear to care that by hitting us with that 88p increase, all in one go, he risks killing the geese that lay those golden eggs. It seems that he really does have a mission to stop the nation smoking (Stock Image)
This week, I heard not a word about the 88p in any of the BBC’s main news reports, though I tuned in to most of them. As for the papers, all those I’ve seen — including this one — tucked the news away on inside pages, as if it was of no special interest.
Obnoxious
If you ask me, this reflects a sea-change in society’s attitude to smokers like me, who have become such a despised minority that few care a damn about our woes.
Indeed, I’m already bracing myself for the torrents of abuse I’ll receive over the internet after admitting that I’m a 50-a-day man.
Some will say people like me cost our precious NHS a small fortune (and never mind that I’ve contributed a great deal more to it, and so far used the service a great deal less, than many who attack me).
Ah well, at least they can comfort themselves with the knowledge that I’m likely to save the Department for Work and Pensions a few bob by dying some ten years younger than a non-smoker.
Others will simply observe that smoking is a disgusting, smelly habit that is offensive to everyone around them.
I can only answer that I know, I know. I wouldn’t for the world seek to encourage anyone to take it up. In fact, I wish I hadn’t had it in those distant days of my youth, when I thought it was cool and sexy. But, reader, I’m weak.
I must admit that I admire Mr Sunak’s political courage in imposing such a large tax on 7,000,000 men and women, who account for 14% of the electorate.
All I can say, is that if nothing else this side of death will succeed in getting me to kick my revolting behavior, this Budget will.