Survey reveals ‘non-shop’ tobacco trade

Almost one-third of participants in a survey commissioned by the U.K. Tobacco Manufacturers Association (TMA) said they purchase cigarettes from “non-shop” sources such as from friends or family, in pubs, online, on the street, at car boot sales, at work, from private houses and from abroad, reports The Sunday Express.

The TMA estimates that the trend deprives the government of £2.1 billion ($3.2 billion) in tax revenues every year, in addition to the £500 million lost to duty-free purchases.

The group said the combined figure of £2.6 billion would be enough to hire 110,000 new police officers. TMA General Director Giles Roca said raising cigarette taxes has failed to curb consumption, driving consumers away from legitimate sources and benefited only “the criminals and terrorists who run the black market.”

Tax currently accounts for an estimated 80 percent of the retail price of cigarettes in Britain. U.K. Chancellor George Osborne’s 2015 budget includes a cigarette excise tax hike of 2 percent above the rate of inflation, which translates into a price increase of £0.16 per 20-piece pack