Smokers pay more for cigarettes in Britain than anywhere else in Europe except Norway
UK prices are more than four times higher than in the cheapest nations
BRITISH smokers pay more for cigarettes than almost anyone else in Europe – with prices more than four times higher than in the cheapest nations.
Only Norwegians fork out more for a pack of 20 fags than our £9.35, research found, with prices as low as £2.06 in Bulgaria and sub-£3 packs commonplace in Eastern Europe.
Packs in Slovakia cost £2.61, Croatia £2.65, Romania £2.75 and Poland £2.86, research by the Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association found.
And in Ukraine 20 cigarettes cost just 63p – 15 times cheaper than in Britain.
Prices in the UK are sky high due to tough taxes which make up around £6.90 per pack.
But the hugely differing costs emerged as research found seven out 10 smokers admit to buying black market or duty-free imported tobacco to save cash – costing the taxman £3.1 billion a year.
A poll of 12,000 smokers found one in eight spend more than £20 a week on fags which have not been subjected to UK taxes – known as “illicit” tobacco.
That came after a study by audit giants KPMG found the black market now accounts for 6.7 billion cigarettes a year – 16 per cent of the total market.
Almost 1.4 billion were smuggled in from Poland and 0.7 billion from Romania, with nearly a billion coming from Spain where a pack of 20 costs £3.85.
It sparked calls for an end to ever-increasing tobacco taxes, which rise by two per cent a year under an automatic “escalator”.
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Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs said: “In the last few years, tobacco duty has increased, the black market has grown and tobacco duty revenues have dropped.
“It is economic madness to continue down this path.”
Newsagent Hitesh Pandya, owner of Toni’s News in Ramsgate, added: “The Government’s tax policy is encouraging smokers to fill their suitcases with cigarettes when abroad.
“We don’t see some of our most regular customers for several weeks after they have been on a foreign holiday.
“The Government’s approach to tobacco tax has to change - it is unfair to customers and businesses alike.”