So now I wonder if illicit drugs, class A, B and C drugs, were both legalized and taxed, what that would the tax take be? Currently, all of these are effectively tax free, not exactly something 'Da Government' (tm) would want to advertise I would think.
There is quite an interesting (it's that word again - ed), report by the Home Office, 'Seizure of Drugs in England and Wales in 2010/11' shows statistics for the number of seizures by the police and the Border Agency not only over 2010/11 but over the last 10 years, unfortunately doesn't give the value of the seizures, the so-called 'street value', so a little more research is required (pause for research - ed)
Another Home Office sponsored report, 'Illicit Drug Trade in the United Kingdom' gives a value of £4-6.6 bn based on 2003-4 figures. Which means if the price of illicit drugs went up with general price inflation, using HMT GDP deflator to calculate it, would today (2013 - ed) be worth between £4.6-6.9 bn.
Now assuming (quite a few things -ed) that they would be sold for the same price and this is a big if and that the taxation rate was the same as cigarettes, (assuming Da Government' (tm) would want to discourage it and so would tax it in the same manner) and assuming that consumers would not pay any more for it (i.e the cost of the finished product pre-tax would drop substantially, say to be on a par with tobacco). With a large finger in the air, and it waving wildly, it could potentially be worth £3.7-5.55 bn a year in forgone taxes. (This seems a little on the high side, as fingers in the air estimates go - ed)
Given that 'Da Government' (tm) raised approx £11bn last year on the taxation of tobacco products, it seems that legalizing and taxing drugs could bring a significant tax revenue and free up large numbers of police and border staff to do other things?
Given that 'Da Government' treat both tobacco and alcohol as health issues (and BTW raise large amounts of money from us), why are they not doing so with illicit drugs? (it's the politics - ed).
Now assuming (quite a few things -ed) that they would be sold for the same price and this is a big if and that the taxation rate was the same as cigarettes, (assuming Da Government' (tm) would want to discourage it and so would tax it in the same manner) and assuming that consumers would not pay any more for it (i.e the cost of the finished product pre-tax would drop substantially, say to be on a par with tobacco). With a large finger in the air, and it waving wildly, it could potentially be worth £3.7-5.55 bn a year in forgone taxes. (This seems a little on the high side, as fingers in the air estimates go - ed)
Given that 'Da Government' (tm) raised approx £11bn last year on the taxation of tobacco products, it seems that legalizing and taxing drugs could bring a significant tax revenue and free up large numbers of police and border staff to do other things?
Given that 'Da Government' treat both tobacco and alcohol as health issues (and BTW raise large amounts of money from us), why are they not doing so with illicit drugs? (it's the politics - ed).
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