Cigarette Tax Hikes Not Helping Anti-Smoking Efforts
Fourteen states and the District of Columbia hiked their cigarette taxes in 2009, but according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), anti-smoking efforts have not been sufficiently aided by these efforts.
The CDC study, which was published in the April 9 issue of the organization’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), notes that higher excise taxes can theoretically help curb tobacco use and help fund programs designed to wean smokers off of the addictive substance.
However, despite the fact that the average state cigarette tax increased from $1.18 per pack in 2008 to $1.34 per pack in 2009, lead author Karen Debrot notes that "none of the 15 states dedicated any of the new excise tax revenue by statute to tobacco control."
Debrot is a member of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health.
The 14 states that joined the District of Columbia in increasing taxes last year were Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.
All 50 states and Washington, D.C. charge excise taxes on tobacco products. Cigarette taxes vary from state to state, ranging from $0.07 per pack in South Carolina to $3.46 per pack in Rhode Island, and in many states, the money raised by the taxes funds public health and anti-smoking efforts, a move that has been applauded by CDC science official and report contributor Terry Pechacek.
"We know that increases in cigarette prices are one of our most effective and efficient strategies for both preventing youth initiating and helping young adults and other adults to quit smoking," Pechacek, the associate director for science of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, told BusinessWeek on Thursday.
"Using resources of the excise taxes, raising the price of a pack of cigarettes is a really good investment in public health," he added, noting that manufacturer rebates and refunds have kept cigarette prices down and harmed anti-smoking efforts. "There are many ways in which the industry can blunt the effect of excise tax increases, and the 10 states with the lowest excise taxes had an absence of any legal protections against discounting and other price cutting mechanisms."
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