scot47

We gave away the rest of the Empire ! Why hang on to Gibraltar ?

Domino

lets give away the Scillies, Channel Isles, Isle of Man, Isle of Whight.

lets retrench to our old borders of 1000 years ago - but then we had strong roots in France.

and just remember that many of the old Empire countries much regret the situations they are now in with despots, dictators etc.

me me

We could go on and on about raising prices or lowering prices to appease governments.

if Gibraltar has to raise its ciggie prices to appease a few whingers, then should Spain be forced to put up the prices of MDD to match those in Portugal?

No cheapies at 4 euros a 'plato' over the border.

Daft statements and logic.

Let Gibraltar do what is best for Gibraltar.

EMR

Its a moral view point, tabacco kills so the prices cannot be too high,
Gib obviously makes money from selling to the smugglers and tourist who flout the rules so it is also on dodgy ground .
Gib could take the moral high ground in this case ( if it wanted to that is ).

Domino

can you prove that

me me

Spain sells a lot of cheap ciggies to tourists from the UK.

The old ciggie runs still exist, so should the UK be insisting that Spain puts the prices up to stop that 'enterprise'.

If you think Gibraltar should increase prices to Spain's level, then Spain should increase to the UK level.

It's only fair then isn't it, a level playing field, isn't that what you are advocating?

As for cigs killing people true, but Spanish ciggies add to the death rate in the UK too.

EMR

If Gb was part of the same tax system ( iE ) NO duty Free as 90% of the EU..everything was tax paid then the problem would be sgnifcantly reduced.
The same argument that applies to Gib would also apply to the Canaries where tourists smuggling tabacco back to the UK is also a problem.
As Custom and Exise will tell you much of that which is smuggled and sold on the cheap is basically floor sweepings, sawdust and animal droppings.

me me

Oh now it's about duties, in your previous post I got the impression that you were saying it was a 'moral view point' as cigarettes kill.

Domino

that only applies to the products with names no one knows how to pronounce

main manufacturer products are taxed to the hilt because they know that production/sales don't fall by enough to effect the income.
Just so happens that the good old EU that you never vote for don't have a fixed taxation rate for all member countries. So each country has their own rules.
I think it really unfair that the UK charges more in taxation on a bottle of my favourite whiskey and rum than I pay for them across the counter in Spain.

EMR

Personally I would double or triple the prce of all tabacco products every year until they became too expensive for anyone.
Fields that grow the stuff could then produce food much better for the health of the world.
So one day when I am Ruler of the world, smokers beware.

jackytoo

I never found much difference in whiskey prices, except for the Lidl crap. Noticed last week in France that a litre of Grants whiskey was 40 cents dearer than my village shop

Domino you are right about the ex colonies, take a look at most of them now. If the Gibraltarians had wanted to go with Spain then the UK would have handed over the Rock, 99% of them don't want to be with Spain. Isn't that clear enough.

me me

Ruler - as in a short little piece of wood used for measureing up to 6 or 12 inches.

Fred James

I can't comment on prices in France. However, in Nerja I pay £9.08 (equiv) for a litre of Grants. How much is it in your village shop?

jackytoo

£16.99. However, in Marbella I never saw branded whiskey for sale at less than €12 the smaller 75cl. Even the Larios gin was 11.50 last year in Alcampo.

I shall check it out next month, perhaps they see me coming

Fredbargate

Lets look at the workings of serious Tobacco smuggling, not the petty across border stuff.

First of all there are the undocumented or wrongly documented containers bought into a country through it's ports.
Second there are the exported containers that do not get exported. one company in Malaga was reported to have handled thousands of these a few years back.
You will see at the Spanish customs lorries being emptied of cigarettes to check what is being exported to Gib, this does not happen at ports, or very rarely.

A method a friend was asked to partake in.

Take a boat of decent size and anchor on a sea mount out from Portugal.
The boat will be visited by ships who would transfer thousands of cases of cigarettes purchased direct from the manufacturer to you.( no middle men maximum profit ) You will be visited by small fast boats who will then load from you and transfer the cigarettes ashore.
You would stay at sea for months and move countless millions of cigarettes whilst you are out in international waters.
Downside that persuaded us not to partake was that the cargo was coming from South America and who knew what the cargo was
Whether this is still taking place especially with modern electronics I do not know.
But unemployed Spaniards trying to feed their families is a drop in the ocean ( pun intended )