Cable Forum - View Single Post - More smoking restrictions (is it enough?)

**Chris** · 10-03-2011, 19:41

Personally, I'm starting to find the whole "government needs the tax" argument a bit tiresome now, because it is continually offered as if it's some sort of self-evident truth with no proof required to back it up.

£8 billion sounds like a lot, but the NHS alone costs well over £100 billion a year. The government would obviously prefer not to have to find a further £8 billion of savings overnight, but it would not be vastly difficult to do.

Smoking is not simply banned outright because too many people are addicted to it. It can't be banned outright until the number of addicts is manageably small. That will take some years to achieve and plans such as removing tobacco from sight are designed to move us towards that aim.

10-03-2011, 19:41	#67
Chris Trollsplatter Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: North of Watford Services: Humane elimination of all common Internet pests Posts: 38,264	Re: More smoking restrictions (is it enough?) Personally, I'm starting to find the whole "government needs the tax" argument a bit tiresome now, because it is continually offered as if it's some sort of self-evident truth with no proof required to back it up. £8 billion sounds like a lot, but the NHS alone costs well over £100 billion a year. The government would obviously prefer not to have to find a further £8 billion of savings overnight, but it would not be vastly difficult to do. Smoking is not simply banned outright because too many people are addicted to it. It can't be banned outright until the number of addicts is manageably small. That will take some years to achieve and plans such as removing tobacco from sight are designed to move us towards that aim.