Gen Z's clean living means decline in 'sin tax' by £14 bn for UK

Revenue from tobacco now makes up just 1% of total public sector receipts, down from 1.9% two decades ago. Alcohol brings in 1.3% of receipts, shrinking from 1.7%

By Tom Rees

Generation Z’s reputation for monkish living — smoking and drinking far less than their predecessors — is turning into yet another problem for the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt.
 

The decline of so-called “sin taxes” on tobacco and alcohol in recent decades have left a £14 billion ($17.1 billion) hole for the Treasury to fill as younger generations switch away from cigarettes to vapes and turn off the booze altogether.

The government would have taken in an additional £9.3 billion in revenue from tobacco duties and £4.7 billion for alcohol if the level of income