talkhealth Blog

Today, George Osborne delivered his 8th budget as Chancellor. Tell us what you think of the 2016 budget. Do you think the Chancellor went far enough with his health initiatives?

The key health-based initiatives announced are:

• A new Sugar Tax. Jamie Oliver has been campaigning for quite some time to get this through Parliament. The new Sugar Tax won’t be introduced for two years and is to be focused on the drinks industry.
• Duty on beer, spirits and most ciders have been frozen.
• A rise in Tobacco Tax & Minimum Excise Tax. Do you think a 2% above inflation rise on duty on manufactured cigarettes and the 5% above inflation rise on hand-rolled tobacco will provide a significant boost in the campaign to reduce smoking? Deborah Arnott, chief executive of the charity Action on Smoking & Health (ASH) believes so. She said:“This is excellent news and we’re delighted the Chancellor has heeded the calls of the health community to further raise tobacco taxes, to reduce the incentive for smokers to downtrade to cheaper products.  The new tax structure will increase the effectiveness of taxation and encourage more people to quit.  It will also help close the gap in health inequalities.”

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This is the talkhealth blog spot, where we post on a wide range of health conditions, topics, issues and concerns. We post when we see something that we believe is of interest to our visitors. Our posts do not reflect any particular view or standpoint of talkhealth, but are merely to raise attention and awareness.