MORE than half of Scots want tax on tobacco to rise by 5% more than the rate of inflation every year, a survey has found.
But while 53% of the population support such a move, only 18% of smokers back it.
The findings were welcomed by anti-smoking campaign group ASH Scotland, which commissioned the poll, with chief executive Sheila Duffy insisting upping the taxes on tobacco is the "most effective way to cut tobacco use and save lives".
YouGov questioned 1064 people, with the results released on World No Tobacco Day.
Just over a fifth (21%) disagreed that taxes on tobacco should rise by 5% more than inflation every year.
The same proportion of ex-smokers were opposed to such tax rises, with 51% of those who have given up supporting the idea.
But among current smokers, 65% were against the idea of raising tobacco taxes by 5% more than inflation.
The poll asked how the UK Government could increase the amount of taxes raised to reduce its borrowings.
More than two thirds (69%) of people backed increasing the price of cigarettes to achieve this - the same amount of people who supported a "mansion tax" on properties worth more than £2 million.
The only proposal that was a more popular way for ministers to boost revenues was by raising the taxes on bank bonuses, which was supported by 74%.
Just over half (51%) want to see a tax on winnings from gambling, while 40% backed higher taxes on alcohol to help the Government cut its borrowing level.
Only 5% of people surveyed backed an increase in VAT to achieve this, while extending VAT to food was supported by 3%.
Ms Duffy said: "We are pleased that people in Scotland recognise the importance of increasing tobacco taxes. It is a measure that has a significant impact on public health and is highly cost-effective.
"Countries around the world have successfully increased tobacco taxes, decreased tobacco use and brought in significant new Government revenue."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article