Budget 2010: Extra tax makes smoking long cigarettes a drag

They have a risqué reputation, with YouTube and MySpace videos celebrating their supposedly seductive appeal, but long cigarettes might just seem like a big drag after this week. "Women lighting long cigarettes renders men helpless", says one page on MySpace. The chancellor, Alistair Darling, is apparently not one of those men: his budget has slapped extra duty on any cigarette longer than 8cm, excluding the tip. From January 1 next year, every additional 3cm, or part thereof, beyond this length will be treated as another cigarette. This means that an 11cm cigarette will be treated as two cigarettes, while a 12cm cigarette will be counted as three. The Treasury said the move was "a technical change" targeted at tax avoidance. A Treasury spokesman was unable to clarify whether the extra duty would be applied to cigarettes that are longer, but thinner, than the average 6cm cigarette, excluding the filter. He said: "The government is committed to maintaining high tobacco duty rates to support health policy on smoking." Smokers were hit elsewhere in the budget, with the price of a packet of standard cigarettes rising by 15p, after the chancellor increased duties by 1% above inflation. Duty will double to 2% above inflation over 2011-2015.