Effectiveness Of Tax And Price Policies For Tobacco Control

This new volume of the IARC Handbooks of Cancer Prevention in Tobacco Control presents a critical review and evaluation of the evidence by 25 international experts from twelve countries on the economics, epidemiology, public policy and tobacco control aspects of tax and price policies. The working group draws conclusions about the effectiveness of tax and price measures to control tobacco use in the population. The Handbook covers an overview of tobacco taxation; industry pricing strategies and other industry initiatives diluting the effects of taxes on consumption; tax, price and aggregated demand for tobacco, as well as demand at the individual level in adults, young people and the economically disadvantaged; tax avoidance and tax evasion and the economic and health impacts of tobacco taxation. This body of evidence and the consensus evaluation of 18 concluding statements on the impact of interventions to increase the price of tobacco products, can assist policy makers, government officials, evaluators and researchers working in tobacco control and disease prevention, to base their decisions on the latest scientific evidence.

Annotation. Addresses important economic and social issues confronting policymakers when dealing with the issue of tobacco control and its impact on the social and economic resources of both developed and developing countries.

Tobacco use is the single largest cause of preventable death globally, killing more than five million people each year. Tobacco use also creates considerable economic costs, from greater spending on health care to treat the diseases it brings on in users and those exposed to tobacco smoke to the lost productivity resulting from the premature deaths it causes. Of all the many interventions for reducing tobacco use, a significant increase in tobacco product taxes and prices has been demonstrated to be the single most effective and cost-effective intervention, particularly among the poor and the young. At the same time, because of the inelasticity of demand for tobacco products in most countries and the low share of tax in price in many, significant increases in tobacco taxes generate significant increases in the revenues generated by these taxes. This technical manual aims to help governments achieve both objectives by identifying a set of "best practices" for tobacco taxation. It documents governments' existing approaches to tobacco taxation, discusses barriers to using tobacco taxes to achieve health and revenue objectives, and provides case studies of effective tobacco tax administration. This manual is intended to be useful to tax administrators at the Ministry of Finance level by making them aware of the practices used and challenges faced by other countries. It will also be useful to officials in a country's Ministry of Health or similar organizations by providing them with a more thorough understanding of key issues in tax structure and administration.

Nearly 370 million people in China smoke; about one-third of all smokers in the world are in China; and about 1.2 million deaths in China are attributable to smoking. The death toll is expected to reach 2.2 million in 2030 if no smoking intervention programs are implemented. Taxation on tobacco products is one of the most effective tobacco control programs. This book addresses not only why China should raise cigarette tax, but also how to raise the tobacco tax, by providing decision makers with relevant research findings and quantitative estimate about the impact of raising the tobacco tax. It documents how these research findings were communicated to the Chinese government officials, and how, finally, tobacco tax was raised 10 years after China's ratification of the WHO Frame Work Convention on Tobacco Control Treaty. The purposes of this book are (1) to inform economists, public health professionals, and policymakers about the economic consequences of smoking, (2) to provide the essential economics (particularly related to taxation) and public health information upon which to build the specifics of the taxation policy that is adopted, (3) to identify barriers, challenges, and recommendations for the Chinese government, and (4) to describe how research findings can be disseminated and communicated successfully to Chinese government policy makers. It is a must read for researchers who are interested in China's tobacco control efforts and in how to communicating their findings to the policy makers. It could also be useful for tobacco control professionals, researchers and policy makers in other countries. Contents:PrefaceList of ContributorsIntroductionEconomic Costs of Smoking:Economic Costs Attributable to Smoking in China: Update and an 8-year Comparison, 2000–2008 (Lian Yang, Hai-Yen Sung, Zhengzhong Mao, Teh-wei Hu and Keqin Rao)Secondhand Smoke Exposure at Home in Rural China (Tingting Yao, Hai-Yen Sung, Zhengzhong Mao, Teh-wei Hu and Wendy Max)The Healthcare Costs of Secondhand Smoke Exposure in Rural China (Tingting Yao, Hai-Yen Sung, Zhengzhong Mao, Teh-wei Hu and Wendy Max)Demand for Cigarette Consumption:Quantity, Quality, and Regional Price Variation of Cigarettes: Demand Analysis Based on a Household Survey in China (Yuyu Chen and Weibo Xing )The Effect of Cigarette Prices on Brand-Switching in China: A Longitudinal Analysis of Data from the ITC China Survey (Justin S White, Jing Li, Teh-wei Hu, Geoffrey T Fong and Jiang Yuan)The Heterogeneous Effects of Cigarette Prices on Brand Choice in China: Implications for Tobacco Control Policy (Jing Li, Justin S White, Teh-wei Hu, Geoffrey T Fong and Jiang Yuan)The Epidemic of Cigarette Gifting: A Social Barrier to Tobacco Control in China (Xiulan Zhang, Steve Lin and Teh-wei Hu)Tobacco Taxation System and Its Reform Impact:The Role of Taxation in Tobacco Control and Its Potential Economic Impact in China (Teh-wei Hu, Zhengzhong Mao, Jian Shi and Wendong Chen)Recent Tobacco Tax Rate Adjustment and Its Potential Impact on Tobacco Control in China (Teh-wei Hu, Zhengzhong Mao and Jian Shi)Can Increases in the Cigarette Tax Rate be Linked to Cigarette Retail Prices? Solving Mysteries Related to the Cigarette Pricing Mechanism in China (Song Gao, Rong Zheng and Teh-wei Hu)The Potential Effects of Tobacco Control in China: Projections from the China SimSmoke Simulation Model (David Levy, Ricardo L Rodríguez-Buño Teh-wei Hu and Andrew E Moran)The Consequences of Tobacco Tax on Household Health and Finances in Rich and Poor Smokers in China: An Extended Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (Stéphane Verguet, Cindy L Gauvreau, Sujata Mishra, Mary MacLennan, Shane M Murphy, Elizabeth D Brouwer, Rachel A Nugent, Kun Zhao, Prabhat Jha and Dean T Jamison)Tobacco Control in China: Barriers, Challenges and Recommendations:WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in China: Barriers, Challenges and Recommendations (Teh-wei Hu, Anita H Lee and Zhengzhong Mao)Tobacco Control in China: From Policy Research to Practice and the Way Forward (Teh-wei Hu and Xiulan Zhang) Readership: Students, researchers and readers who are interested in learning more about tobacco control in China and how to effectively communicate research findings to China's policymakers.

The "Handbook" covers how the effects of a tobacco control policy are determined, the core constructs for understanding how and why a given policy works, the potential moderator variables to consider when evaluating a given policy and the data sources that might be useful for evaluation. The "Handbook" includes logic models outlining relevant constructs for evaluating the effectiveness of policies on tobacco taxation, smoke-free environments, tobacco product regulations, limits on tobacco marketing communications, product labeling, anti-tobacco public communication campaigns and tobacco use cessation interventions.

Tobacco is reported to be the second major cause of death in the world and there is ever-increasing interest in the costs of smoking, especially in the light of evidence of the health effects of second-hand smoke. This book brings together the findings of economists on the effectiveness of price and non-price policy initiatives to combat smoking and draws conclusions regarding the efficacy of the various policy measures. The authors evaluate the relative effectiveness of price-based smoking control policies (i.e. tax) in relation to non-price strategies (including advertising restrictions, sales restrictions, territorial restrictions and health warnings). They review evidence not only from the US but also from around the world, drawing important conclusions for developing countries where smoking is on the rise. The book will be essential reading for policy makers, health practitioners and researchers in health economics.

This study analyzes the potential fiscal, health, and poverty impacts of increasing cigarette taxes in five countries---the People's Republic of China, India, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam. For each of these countries, increasing taxes on cigarettes would result in substantially fewer long-term smokers and a reduction in premature deaths from tobacco-related diseases, while increasing tax revenues. The poorest groups in each country only bear a small part of the extra tax burdens, but do reap a substantial proportion of the health benefits of reduced smoking.

The health and economic costs of tobacco use in military and veteran populations are high. In 2007, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) requested that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) make recommendations on how to reduce tobacco initiation and encourage cessation in both military and veteran populations. In its 2009 report, Combating Tobacco in Military and Veteran Populations, the authoring committee concludes that to prevent tobacco initiation and encourage cessation, both DoD and VA should implement comprehensive tobacco-control programs.