Butts
Veteran Member
I am currently in shock having been relieved of £13 in Tesco for 20 Benson & Hedges Gold
My latest "fag run" to Luxembourg last weekend was cancelled by The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's untimely intervention.
Had I been able to go I would have been sourcing stock at around £5 a packet for the same product in much nicer packaging.
The economics of travelling abroad to purchase cigarettes on the surface sounds insane, but if you are bringing 200 packets back with an £8 saving on each it soon put things into perspective.
Having not purchased any cigarettes in the UK for years I hadn't realised how far the price differential had expanded.
The excise duty on tobacco is surely a regressive tax as it disproportionately affects the poor who form the bulk of smokers these days. Can you imagine the outrage that would be generated amongst the chattering classes if Alcohol was taxed at the same level ?
As a footnote I have arranged a trip to Italy next week where I will have to pay the outrageous price of 6 Euros per packet to obtain my Benson & Hedges Gold. The trip has cost me just over £200 for a BA Holiday with an overnight stay in Venice. Such hardship to buy a a packet of fags .
My latest "fag run" to Luxembourg last weekend was cancelled by The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's untimely intervention.
Had I been able to go I would have been sourcing stock at around £5 a packet for the same product in much nicer packaging.
The economics of travelling abroad to purchase cigarettes on the surface sounds insane, but if you are bringing 200 packets back with an £8 saving on each it soon put things into perspective.
Having not purchased any cigarettes in the UK for years I hadn't realised how far the price differential had expanded.
The excise duty on tobacco is surely a regressive tax as it disproportionately affects the poor who form the bulk of smokers these days. Can you imagine the outrage that would be generated amongst the chattering classes if Alcohol was taxed at the same level ?
As a footnote I have arranged a trip to Italy next week where I will have to pay the outrageous price of 6 Euros per packet to obtain my Benson & Hedges Gold. The trip has cost me just over £200 for a BA Holiday with an overnight stay in Venice. Such hardship to buy a a packet of fags .