Lifestyle Economics

Tobacco Ban Will Hurt the Nation’s Finances


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Economics

Matthew Lesh writes for City AM

Economic Theory

Kristian Niemietz writes for CapX

IEA Research Referenced in The Times

2017 research by IEA Head of Lifestyle Economics Christopher Snowdon and co-author Mark Tovey has been referenced in The Times as evidence that the government’s proposal for a generational ban on tobacco will nix a key source of tax revenue.

The article said:

“In their 2017 paper ‘Smoking and the Public Purse’, Christopher Snowdon and Mark Tovey of the Institute of Economic Affairs estimated that ‘the UK government saved a net total of £9.8 billion from the 96,045 premature deaths attributable to smoking in 2015’. That ‘saving’ would be much higher now, courtesy of the pension triple lock. This is not an argument against the bill; just to emphasise that the government’s fiscal claims for it are spurious.”

Read the full piece here.

You can also read a copy of Smoking and the Public Purse.



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