Cigarette Excise Taxes and Tobacco Cessation
Publication Date: 12/07/2009
The Problem:
Tobacco use is a source of chronic and fatal illnesses for users and persons with secondary exposure. In the United States, cigarette smoking contributes to one in five deaths and costs more than $193 billion in annual lost productivity and healthcare expenditures. CDC: Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses—United States, 2000–2004.
The Law:
All states have laws that tax cigarettes to discourage continued use. Tobacco Free Kids: Fact Sheet. For example, under California Proposition 99, Cal Rev & Tax Code § 30122-3 (2008), adopted in 1988, cigarette distributors are taxed $0.0125 per cigarette or $0.25 per pack. For other examples of cigarette excise tax laws, see ALM GL ch. 64C, § 6 (Massachusetts) and ORS § 323.030(1) (Oregon).
The Evidence:
In a systematic review, a Community Guide expert panel reviewed 17 studies that assessed the effectiveness of California Proposition 99 and similar cigarette excise tax laws as public health interventions aimed at reducing tobacco use and its associated harms. Community Guide Task Force: Changing Risk Behaviors and Addressing Environmental Change - Tobacco, 27-29. The underlying studies used time-series analyses of aggregate data collected by state authorities to measure price elasticity related to sales or overall consumption trends. According to the reviewers, the findings across the studies suggest that increasing cigarette prices reduces cigarette sales and or consumption. For example, the seven underlying studies focusing on California found that the $0.25 per pack tax instituted by Proposition 99 reduced per capita cigarette consumption by 4 – 16 percent in the short term.
The Bottom Line:
In the judgment of a Community Guide expert panel, excise taxes are an effective public health intervention aimed at decreasing the amount of cigarettes purchased and the prevalence of smoking. The effects are generally proportional to the size of the tax increase.
Additional Information:
Tobacco Free Kids provides online access to a number of resources including informative briefs and fact sheets.
The National Conference on State Legislatures (NCSL) provides online access to a map illustrating state cigarette excise taxes and tracks cigarette excise tax legislation.
An interactive map from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation gives policy-makers and advocates a nationwide picture of continuing state efforts on key tobacco control policies.
Additional Resources: Tobacco Free Kids, National Conference on State Legislatures, Cigarette Tax Laws by State
What are Evidence Briefs?
A Public Health Law Research Program “Evidence Brief” summarizes the research assessing the effect of a specific law or policy on public health.
Evidence Briefs are prepared by the staff of the National Program Office. Briefs are based on systematic literature reviews conducted by highly-regarded scholars and published by credible organizations or peer-reviewed journals. Evidence Briefs digest the best available evidence, but readers should bear in mind that even the best evidence may have limitations or deficiencies.
The evidence briefs are organized by topic and intervention. Each law or policy is classified as “effective,” “uncertain” or “harmful,” according to the conclusions of the expert reviewers. These are not independent conclusions of the NPO, nor do they reflect the views of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
About the Links
Each Evidence Brief includes links to the study on which it is based. In many cases, the study is available in the public domain, but access to some may require a subscription.
