Thank You for Smoking

THANK YOU FOR SMOKING !

Each year, a staggering 440,000 people die in the US from tobacco use. Nearly 1 of every 5 deaths is related to smoking. Cigarettes kill more Americans than alcohol, car accidents, suicide, AIDS, homicide, and illegal drugs combined. Based on data collected from 1995 to 1999, the CDC(Centre for Disease Control) estimated that adult male smokers lost an average of 13.2 years of life and female smokers lost 14.5 years of life because of smoking.At the same time,smoking affects society at a whole other level,as the CDC reported the annual economic cost of smoking at $158(lost productivity&medical expenses).All the above facts being taken into consideration,it seems only fair that measures should be adopted in order to diminish the number of smokers.

Of course,a way to do this was to introduce education programs and public service adds in order to raise public awareness.But would people respond to this type of warning?Would teenagers be discouraged to take up smoking?Statistics have shown that people were not impressed with this campaigns and moreover the gouvernment was spending millions with no visible result.So instead of wasting more money ,the gouvernment decided to tax cigarettes,consequently raising revenues while reducing smoking.

This measure,namely taxing cigarettes,seems to be the most efficient measure,especially from an ecnomic viewpoint,in which the gouvernment has managed to reduce the number of smokers,discourage non-smokers to take up smoking and raise a substantial revenue,instead of wasting money on lost productivity and medical expeses.But aren't there any drawbacks in this appearently ''ideal" situation?

Firstly,I am going to analyse the positive side of the gouvernment's imposition of taxing on cigarettes starting from the phrase that Frank O'Bannon,Indiana Gov.used to describe this:"a win-win situation"; "Teenagers are less likely to start, and adult smokers are more likely to quit when the tax is higher — so there is clearly a health benefit. ... And the tax revenue will help us weather the recession."

Numerous economic studies inpeer-reviewed journals have documented that cigarette taxor price increases reduce both adult and underage smoking. The general consensus is that every 10 percent increase in the real price of cigarettes reduces overall cigarette consumption by approximately three to five percent, reduces the number of young-adult smokers by 3.5 percent, and reduces the number of kids who smoke by 6 or 7 per cent.

In every single state that has significantly raised its cigarette tax rate, pack sales have gone down sharply. While some of the decline in pack sales comes from interstate smuggling and from smoker avoiding in-state purchases and going to other lower-tax states or to the Internet to buy their cigarette, it is clear that reduced consumption from smokers quitting and cutting back plays a more powerful role. As shown in more detail, below, nationwide data – which counts both legal in-state purchases and the vast majority of packs purchased through cross-border, Internet, or smuggled sales – shows that overall packs sales go down as state cigarette tax increases push up the average national price.In-state evidence shows that state cigarette tax increases are prompting many smokers to quit orcutback. For example, after the most recent cigarette tax increases in Michigan (from $1.25 to $2.00 perpack) and Montana ($0.70 to $1.70), smoker calls to the state smoking quitlines skyrocketed. In the sixmonths after the tax increase, the Michigan quitline received 3,100 calls, compared to only 550 in theprevious six months; and in Montana more than 2,000 people called in the first 20 days after the tax increase, compared to only 380 calls per month previously. Likewise, in Texas and Iowa, which eachincreased their cigarette taxes by $1.00 in 2007, the number of calls to the state quitlines have beenmuch higher compared to the year before. It is also clear that these efforts to quit by smokers after tax increases translate directly into lower future smoking rates. In Washington State, for example, adult smoking from the year before its 60-cent cigarette tax increase in 2002 to the year afterwards declined from 22.6 to 19.7 percent, reducing the number of adult smokers in the state by more than 100,000,despite overall population increases.

Cigarette tax increases boost cigarette tax revenues, despite reducing smoking, because the increased tax per pack brings in more new revenue than is lost from the related declines in pack sales caused by reduced smoking (and by any increased smoker tax avoidance). Parallel increases to federal taxes on other tobacco products would provide more new federal revenue – while also further reducing tobacco use and its many related harms and costs.