LONDON, March 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Money Dashboard shows exactly how the Budget will affect UK spending on alcohol and cigarettes

George Osborne's latest round of tax increases on alcohol and cigarettes will cost the average drinker an extra £19.76 and a smoker £69.06 each year. This is according to research announced today by smart account aggregation service Money Dashboard.

Money Dashboard has analysed the spending of 20,000 users to work out the current UK average spending on alcohol and cigarettes and how today's Budget increases will affect it over the course of a year.

For Alcohol:

• The average UK spend on alcohol was previously £1,708 per year. Following the 2014 Budget, this will increase only at the rate of inflation to £1727.76 - a yearly increase of £19.76. Beer drinkers, who saw a 1p cut per pint, will save on average £5.63 per year.

For Cigarettes:

• The average UK spend on cigarettes was previously £565 per year. Following the 2014 Budget, this will increase to £634.06 - a yearly increase of £69.06.

For Fuel:

• The average UK spend on fuel was previously £2,017 per year. Following the 2014 Budget at the rate of inflation, this will increase to £2,055.32 - a yearly increase of £38.32.

Money Dashboard has also created four dashboards to visually show exactly where government spending goes and how this has changed over the past four Budgets. With these dashboards, the government's increased spending on healthcare by £3bn is easier to understand.

High-resolution dashboards are available here.

Gavin Littlejohn, Founder and CEO of Money Dashboard comments: "With taxation on things like cigarettes and alcohol increasing, your average consumer will need to look long and hard at their finances to see where these additional costs will come from. Whilst a 2% increase in tax on cigarettes above inflation may not sound like much, over the course of the year, it could in fact jeopardise the chance to buy that dress or suit you've had your eye on.

Using data from real users we are able to demonstrate exactly how the Budget will impact on UK consumer spending. Having complete visibility of your expenditure, from all your bank accounts, will be key to managing your money and tracking where it goes each month and over the course of a year."

About Money Dashboard:

Money Dashboard is the UK's leading smart account aggregation service that allows users to view spending across multiple accounts, automatically tag spending into different areas and budget for the future. Money Dashboard is a free online service that allows users to:

• Aggregate: all of their finances into one place by linking different accounts including savings, current and credit cards, no matter which bank they belong to. Money Dashboard provides users with an overview of their finances all in one place.
• Intelligently Tag: all of their financial data. Money Dashboard automatically categorises income and expenditure into groups and tags such as 'household', which is then further subdivided into 'electricity' for example, to make sense of your financial transactions.
• Visualise: financial data by creating simple graphs and pie-charts that show users exactly where money goes each month.

Money Dashboard makes your financial life easier. Whoever you bank with, all your current, savings and credit card accounts come together giving you a clear picture of exactly what's happening with your money. Launched in 2010 Money Dashboard has become one of the largest account aggregation services in the UK.

SOURCE Money Dashboard