The problem with these various 'Duties' is that they just go into the great melting pot of the inland revenue and are not used for any specific purpose.

eg Car Tax - actually it's Vehicle Excise Duty (for whatever that means that is so different) - people think it's levied to pay for the roads but it is not and apparently was never meant to be.

If that tax was diverted to spending on roads, we'd have no pot holes at all anywhere.  But it isn't - it goes into the pot and then money is reallocated for major project from that pot whilst local road maintenance comes from local taxes - Council, Business etc.

So, if that revenue from tobacco sales was allocated purely to the NHS and associated organisations to help people affected by smoking and to fund the NHS in general, we'd all be cruising!

But it's not and so it cannot be said that smokers are 'self-funding' at all - and certainly they're not subsidising non-smokers in any way.

Fot that to be valid, one would have to see that tobacco revenue actually go into the NHS and have an accounting of what it was spent on.

The same applies to alcohol duty - if only that was paid into the NHS to help manage all the disturming mass of binge drinkers who clog up A&E on an increasing basis, we may well be able to fund places where those gits could be safely left and just monitored whilst they sober up.

Personally, I'm all for leaving them where they fall, but that's another matter.

The real issue is that in all honesty, it's impossible to get accurate accounting from the Govt, because they're just not going to admit to how much they rake in and how much they spend where they don't want people to know, and how much is funded with borrowing.  The figures will all be massaged for one reason or another.

If only I could be massaged like that on a regular basis, I'd be a svelt nimble thing in no time!