Blog
High taxes stimulate rise in smuggling of cigarettes
Geoff Riley
6th February 2011
One of the unintended consequences of the steep rise in the real price of cigarettes in the UK is the strong incentive to bring contraband cigarettes into the UK from elsewhere in the EU single market.
This Guardian article reports on the expected rise in smuggling as cigarette duties reach fresh highs in 2011. The average price of a pack of 20 cigarettes reached £6.29 in the UK last summer, compared with £2.80 in Spain and £1.57 in Poland.
Geoff Riley
Geoff Riley FRSA has been teaching Economics for over thirty years. He has over twenty years experience as Head of Economics at leading schools. He writes extensively and is a contributor and presenter on CPD conferences in the UK and overseas.