The Faculty of Public Health has published a new position statement in support of a ‘polluter pays’ levy scheme for tobacco products in the UK. This policy, formally endorsed by the Royal Society of Public Health, would cap wholesale tobacco prices whilst increasing tax on tobacco products or applying a new health levy, thereby limiting tobacco industry profits and raising much needed revenue to realise the vision of a smokefree future.
Tobacco remains the biggest preventable cause of death in the UK. Currently big tobacco companies make huge profits - estimated at £900 million each year in the UK - and operate with profit margins that are much larger than other industries.
Bringing these profits in line with other industries could raise up to £4.9 billion over an initial five-year period by capturing industry profits, which could then be used to help pay for the health harms the industry cause. This would include funding additional tobacco control activity to support people who smoke to quit and reduce smoking rates.
This revenue would be on top of existing government funding commitments for tobacco control, in order to hasten the health and economic benefits of reduced smoking rates. Such a scheme would also incentivise the tobacco industry to move away from this uniquely harmful product.
Professor Tracy Daszkiewicz, President of the UK Faculty of Public Health said
“Smoking remains the leading preventable killer nationally and globally, and drives unfair and avoidable differences in health. Yet the tobacco industry continues to make extraordinary profits, while people and communities bear the health, social, and economic costs.
The polluter pays levy scheme sets out a model to make tobacco companies pay for the harms that they cause, and generate additional revenue to accelerate progress towards a smokefree future across the four nations of the UK.
The Faculty of Public Health supports this scheme along with the maintenance of existing funding for tobacco control activity, existing taxation measures, and the measures and regulations laid out in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill”.
Dr. Rob Branston, University of Bath said
“The polluter pays levy scheme is a popular, achievable, and just intervention which stands to benefit people and communities across the UK.
The tobacco industry generates huge profits from selling a uniquely lethal product, and these profits should be diverted to tackle the health, social, and economic harms caused by these companies. The proposed scheme puts a price cap on the wholesale price of tobacco, and applies a new health levy to ensure that the retail price for the consumer does not drop.
The scheme is workable and can be used to generate much needed revenue to fund tobacco control activities and support people to quit smoking”.
Action on Smoking and Health organisations in England, Scotland and Wales said
“While the tobacco industry continues to make huge profits, with minimal returns for the UK economy, our people and communities are facing the costs out of their pockets and with their health.
The polluter pays levy scheme limits tobacco industry profitability, ensures that the industry pays for the harms it creates, and could generate as much as £5 billion over five years to support people across the four nations to quit.
We are calling on the government to consult around this scheme to improve the public's health, and ensure that the tobacco industry is held liable to pay for a proportion of the harms it creates".
