just for the sake of interest, as i said earlier in the thread that i had heard smoking revenue covered the cost of the nhs, although i had no reference to back it up, this is just me working it out so don't shoot me plz.
population of the uk:
63,181,775
reference
percentage of smokers in the uk:
19.3% by 2013
reference
tax rate on tobacco: note this is an import price, wether it is higher or lower than the equivalent you'd pay in a shop without importing it i dont know.
16.5% of retail price plus £184.10 per 1,000 cigarettes
reference
cost of 20 stirling in my local shop:
£8.40
and for the purposes of this we'll assume that the average rate of smoking is 20/day, and that the price shown of 20 stirling sounds about right for the average cost of 20 cigarettes [ie that being raised or lowered by smokers using rollies or buying more expensive cigarettes cancels out on average and that this is also average for the uk as a whole so not factoring for example london prices or cheaper areas]
tax from cigarettes=16.5%*8.40+(184.10*20/1000)=£5.07 per box
tax from smoking 20 a day for 1 year=5.07*365=£1849.82
number of smokers in the uk=19.3%*63181775=12194082.58
therefore total revenue from those smokers=12194082.58*£1849.82=£22,556,857,830
department of health budget in 2013-14:
£110 billion
reference
going off the
reference that wiki will be quoting 1 billion as 1*10^9 [or one thousand million, yep i did indeed get stuck on which one they were quoting] this means:
revenue from smoking=£22.56 Billion
Revenue from NHS =110 Billion
so it seems i have just proved my original statement [which i said i had no figures for] wrong.
although even still smoking revenue theoretically constitutes 20% of the health budget. i cant seem to find anything reliable on just how much the nhs spends on cancer treatment/research each year [one source suggests £750 million, others less for cancer drugs which sounds low to me]
*disclaimer, i take no responsibility for the accuracy of any of the quoted figures or calculations due to their reliance on external sources although i have endeavoured to use the most current and reputable data 30 seconds of googling could provide. i also provide no solid conclusion because:
a. i couldnt be bothered
b. it'll be hilarious to see what gd makes of this post
the only thing i will say with certainty is that my earlier statement that smoking revenue funds the nhs entirely is a statement i now consider to be incorrect.
tl:dr smoking revenue=20% of the nhs, how much smokers cost the nhs remains unknown.