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Plea to smokers to quit in 2010
http://www.x404.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=5241		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  pcernie [ Sun Jan 03, 2010 12:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Plea to smokers to quit in 2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8437908.stm

Quote:
The Scottish Government said more than 60,000 quit attempts were made in 2008-09 and 23,126 people managed to kick the habit.

Smoking is responsible for about 13,000 deaths and 35,500 hospital admissions each year, officials said.

Smoking-related illnesses cost the NHS more than £200m a year.


I'd love to know how they work out those figures, especially the quit attempts :?
Author:  jonbwfc [ Sun Jan 03, 2010 12:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Plea to smokers to quit in 2010
pcernie wrote:
I'd love to know how they work out those figures, especially the quit attempts :?

It's quite simple. You look at the medical conditions that smoking is known to promote. You then look at the prevalence of those conditions in smokers compared to their prevalence among non smokers. The difference can logically be associated with smoking (assuming your sample size is large enough). The cost of treating that portion can be called the 'outgoing' of smoking. You take the income to the exchequer in duty from smokers off that, and the number you have left is the cost of smoking to the country. It's approximate of course but - again, assuming your sample size is large - it's within statistical error of being correct.

I don't know how they work out the data around quit attempts given a lot of that isn't documented anywhere. I suspect that's be questionnaire based research among smokers, which is rather less reliable.

Jon
Author:  pcernie [ Sun Jan 03, 2010 1:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Plea to smokers to quit in 2010
jonbwfc wrote:
pcernie wrote:
I'd love to know how they work out those figures, especially the quit attempts :?

It's quite simple. You look at the medical conditions that smoking is known to promote. You then look at the prevalence of those conditions in smokers compared to their prevalence among non smokers. The difference can logically be associated with smoking (assuming your sample size is large enough). The cost of treating that portion can be called the 'outgoing' of smoking. You take the income to the exchequer in duty from smokers off that, and the number you have left is the cost of smoking to the country. It's approximate of course but - again, assuming your sample size is large - it's within statistical error of being correct.


But what if there are other factors where you couldn't say for definite, I think it would corrupt the figures quite a bit, though maybe those numbers aren't included... Sorry, I'm just really distrustful of figures at the best of times :lol:
Author:  finlay666 [ Sun Jan 03, 2010 6:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Plea to smokers to quit in 2010
Quote:
Smoking-related illnesses cost the NHS more than £200m a year.


Yes but according to:
http://www.the-tma.org.uk/tobacco-tax-revenue.aspx

It generates £1.8 BILLION generated in tax

I think thats a net profit for the government, they want people to smoke as it makes them more money!
Author:  bobbdobbs [ Sun Jan 03, 2010 6:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Plea to smokers to quit in 2010
finlay666 wrote:
Quote:
Smoking-related illnesses cost the NHS more than £200m a year.


Yes but according to:
http://www.the-tma.org.uk/tobacco-tax-revenue.aspx

It generates £1.8 BILLION generated in tax

I think thats a net profit for the government, they want people to smoke as it makes them more money!

...er your looking at the wrong column thats the VAT revenue and not the total tax take (VAT + Excise) which is ~£10 billion.
Author:  MrStevenRogers [ Sun Jan 03, 2010 6:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Plea to smokers to quit in 2010
let me have a fag then i will have a look at the figures …
Author:  adidan [ Sun Jan 03, 2010 7:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Plea to smokers to quit in 2010
Smoking costs the NHS nothing in reality, it contributes several billion more than it takes out.

This cannot be said for eaters and drinkers, if the Governments are determined to cut smoking out all together they have to decide where all that funding will come from.

Smokers currently fund non-smokers treatment, what will happen when this is gone?
Author:  ProfessorF [ Sun Jan 03, 2010 7:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Plea to smokers to quit in 2010
adidan wrote:
This cannot be said for eaters and drinkers,


Isn't that everyone in the country?
So should the government encourage smoking to prop up the NHS then?
Author:  JJW009 [ Sun Jan 03, 2010 7:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Plea to smokers to quit in 2010
adidan wrote:
Smokers currently fund non-smokers treatment, what will happen when this is gone?

A lot of people favour the American system of insurance, which leaves the jobless and low paid in a very bad situation.

"Fair" is a strange word. Most people agree that the system needs to be "fair", but very few people agree on what "fair" actually means. Should everyone be treated the same, or should your treatment depend on how responsible you've been? Perhaps jobless smokers should be left to rot while professional non-smokers get free transplants?

I quite like the idea of everyone carrying a "Karma" card. Anyone can give or take points, much like on some forums. Arseholes would end up with no karma credit and automatically be recycled for spare parts, where as nice caring but quite possibly poor folks would be treated like royalty.
Author:  finlay666 [ Sun Jan 03, 2010 7:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Plea to smokers to quit in 2010
bobbdobbs wrote:
...er your looking at the wrong column thats the VAT revenue and not the total tax take (VAT + Excise) which is ~£10 billion.


I wasn't :)

It was the fact that the VAT takings ALONE are ~9 times the cost that the NHS has for dealing with smokers treatment.
Author:  MrStevenRogers [ Sun Jan 03, 2010 7:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Plea to smokers to quit in 2010
finlay666 wrote:
bobbdobbs wrote:
...er your looking at the wrong column thats the VAT revenue and not the total tax take (VAT + Excise) which is ~£10 billion.


I wasn't :)

It was the fact that the VAT takings ALONE are ~9 times the cost that the NHS has for dealing with smokers treatment.


can i light up another fag now …
Author:  bobbdobbs [ Sun Jan 03, 2010 7:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Plea to smokers to quit in 2010
finlay666 wrote:
bobbdobbs wrote:
...er your looking at the wrong column thats the VAT revenue and not the total tax take (VAT + Excise) which is ~£10 billion.


I wasn't :)

It was the fact that the VAT takings ALONE are ~9 times the cost that the NHS has for dealing with smokers treatment.


That cost estimate was for Scotland, the estimated cost for the UK is ~£5 billion (source), this of course ignores the loss of revenue through counterfeit and smuggled tobacco (£2.1-3.7 billion).

But that still leaves a healthy ~£5 billion profit for the government.
Author:  MrStevenRogers [ Sun Jan 03, 2010 8:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Plea to smokers to quit in 2010
can i light up 2 fags, both together, instead please

apart from my so called humour
when will people learn, once prohibition of one kind or another is established then it is not hard for other 'things' to be listed as prohibited as prohibition has been excepted and established …

Quote:
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.


remember prohibition affects all, directly or indirectly, you may not realise that at the time even if you are not involved …
Author:  finlay666 [ Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Plea to smokers to quit in 2010
MrStevenRogers wrote:
can i light up 2 fags, both together, instead please


Yes, the country depends on you doing it!
Author:  hifidelity2 [ Mon Jan 04, 2010 11:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Plea to smokers to quit in 2010
Personally I want more people to smoke and those who do to smoke more

Thats more tax being paid by them and hopefully less by me
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