Higher smoking taxes would prompt more to quit, says Ash

A tax of five per cent above inflation on tobacco products would drastically cut the number of smokers, it has been claimed.

According to Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), increasing taxation on tobacco would encourage 190,000 people to give up smoking in the first year-and-a-half - something that could lead them to find cheaper medical insurance premiums.

The charity's report highlighted how such a move would also reduce smoking-related absenteeism in the work place by enough to save employers £10 million.

On top of that, the government would be able to enjoy a further £500 million a year in revenues from tax; a development that could bring with it wider economic benefits.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Ash, said that if smoking had been invented today, it would immediately be banned.

"It's incredibly dangerous but because it is so common you couldn't ban it overnight," she said.

"Smoking is so addictive, it's very hard for people to quit and once they start they may be smoking for many years."

The Department of Health is hoping to halve the number of smokers - from 21 per cent of the population to ten per cent - by 2020.

Those who quit could find that their health insurance premiums begin to come down.

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