First Rip off britain now France

[4me2]

French strike over cigarette prices


France wants less smoky bars

France's 34,000 tobacconists are staging their first ever national strike in protest against a sharp rise in cigarette prices.

French smokers will see the price of a pack of cigarettes jump by 20% on Monday.

It is the second of three price increases.

"Three separate price increases will push the cost of smoking up by half in the space of a year," said BBC News correspondent in Paris, Quentin Somerville.

France has long had some of the cheapest cigarettes in Europe but is now trying to persuade people to quit the habit.

However critics say the increases are being used to help bail out France's troubled state finances.

Cross-border buying

The price rises will force tobacconists out of business and the number of bankruptcies has already gone up by 57% in a year, according to the Confederation of Licensed Tobacco Sellers.

Average price, pack of 20
UK £4.65
France £3.50
Denmark £3.19
Finland £2.78
Germany £2.34
Netherlands £2.05
Greece £1.84
Italy £1.74
Spain £1.36



"The government says loud and clear that it wants the day to come when there is not a single smoker left in France," said Rene Le Pape, president of the confederation.

"What I want is to make sure that our network of 34,000 traders doesn't disappear as well."



The number of people smoking has been declining slowly, but around 42% of the population still smoke.

Health fears

The French government is particularly worried that smoking remains popular with pregnant women and young people.

"Putting up prices by 25% means reducing consumption by 10% and in the years ahead preventing 10,000 deaths a year," said Health Minister Jean-Francois Mattei.

After the change, a packet of cigarettes will cost more than five euros a pack, about £3.50, much more expensive than in many of France's neighbours. The BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Paris says the latest price rise is expected to add to the number of French smokers who cross the border to buy their cigarettes or buy them on the black market. Should cigarette prices be even higher to stop people smoking? Or is it just an excuse for the government to boost its income?





http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3206440.stm


How the F can UK and France justify those prices ?
Ours due to large military commitments ? Frances possibly due to other countries boycotting thier products because of thier Iraq policies ? Or even because they lost all thier OIL deals they were illegally doing for years with Iraq over illegal pipelines in Syria ?

[{{909}}]

my sumwhat uneducated guess on the UKs pricing is that we have a "free" health service, which needs paying for and since smoking causes such a large amount of health probs, the smokers should foot the bill.

[4me2]

my sumwhat uneducated guess on the UKs pricing is that we have a "free" health service, which needs paying for and since smoking causes such a large amount of health probs, the smokers should foot the bill.

So does every other country on that list m8 and they are all in a FAR better state than the UKs.

[{{909}}]

point taken, i have to admit i know vertually zero about stuff like this but i do think smoking should be discouraged as much as possible, i am watching my parents suffer from a lifetime of smoking, it was enough to put me off and i cannot see why so many people still do it today

[4me2]

Ok what Id like to know is this:

The highest price is in Uk with UK £4.65 and the lowest in Spain with £1.36 .
spain will still have a percentage of tax on there fags too but the difference between the two countries of £3.29 . WTF does this £3.29 go ?

[Thrush]

errrr.... somewhere! Dont forget England is still in debt with the international bank.... how many billion do they borrow each year? I don't know what they do with the dosh but i didn't see any of it while i was in england.

[Snak3]

my sumwhat uneducated guess on the UKs pricing is that we have a "free" health service, which needs paying for and since smoking causes such a large amount of health probs, the smokers should foot the bill.

yes, but seeing as smokers pay for at least 1/3 of the cost of the NHS, and recieve jack all out of it, apart from nicotine gum? as was once said in an episode of yes minister 'smokers are national benefactors, they voluntarily lay down their lives to pay for the NHS!'

the government has far more to lose than to gain by any further price rises on fags...if they became illegal/prices even higher, and as a consequence there was not a smoker left....everyone would have to foot the bill left by the lack of tobacco tax revenues...by even higher income tax/NI

[mladen]

**** em, I say ban smoking everywhere. I'd make nicotine a class A drug

[salvadorescobar]

The British are very selfish people. They don't want to pay tax and they don't want to pay anything to help anyone else. Thanks to policy in the 80's and early 90's they managed to drop income tax in Britain massively. The rich were helped to become richer. The top rate of income tax was removed and that meant that there was less money coming into government. This had to be addressed. The first thing they did was privatise most things. That got large sums back but it was a very short term solution. Also look how much the private companies have messed things up by putting profit over service.

So what else could Thatchers lot do to get some money back? I know, increase tax on fags. That way it's the poorer less well educated people who end up financing the NHS. Lets face it, why should these people who choose to use private health care pay for the national service?

Throughout Europe income taxes are generally much higher. However, people don't complain. They have a pride in looking after their fellow man.

As their income tax is higer they can afford to pay for their services without having to increase tax on other things.

The government are far better received by justifying increasing taxes for health reasons rather than increasing income tax which would be the fairer and more logical route.

Whinge over. Thanks, salvadorEscobar.

[Snak3]

The British are very selfish people. They don't want to pay tax and they don't want to pay anything to help anyone else. Thanks to policy in the 80's and early 90's they managed to drop income tax in Britain massively. The rich were helped to become richer. .

**** it every man for himself i say. if u work hard enough u can do well.

[maverick_15]

i heard an interesting theory a bit back. apparently there were tests done which showed that if all the smokers didnt smoke then it would actually cost the NHS more. how? well, basically smokers die earlier and as a result the 'old age' illnesses that the NHS has to treat dont need to be treated. whether this is true or not i dont know but interesting anyway...

[Aido]

Throughout Europe income taxes are generally much higher. However, people don't complain. They have a pride in looking after their fellow man.

Fair enough mate I'm happy to see my taxes go to a worthwhile cause but a lot of people coming to the UK nowadays are just fleecing it for every penny and are taking the piss - this is bad because it looks bad for the people who really do need our help and are frowned upon by society....

[GameKing]

the trouble is both beer and fags have been an easy way for sucessive governments to get revenue instead of raising income-tax and then saying we haven`t raised income-tax again 'hurrah' but we are going to 'educate' people away from harmful drinking and smoling 'aren`t we good to you?' it`s all bollox, if they overhauled the tax system,then they could get some money out of the top 5% of earners and company`s like dewhurst who didn`t pay hardly any tax for years due to tax law loopholes