Taxation of tobacco products: an effective public health measure

Taxation - A new increase in the price of tobacco has just been approved for March 1, 2020. Tax policies are widely recognized as one of the most effective ways to reduce tobacco consumption. Therefore, the implementation of Article 6 of the WHO Framework Convention is an essential element of tobacco control policies, particularly to reduce the burden of noncommunicable diseases. Tobacco taxes should be implemented as part of a comprehensive tobacco control strategy in line with other articles of the WHO FCTC. Generally speaking, as the price of a good increases, it becomes less affordable and therefore less purchased by consumers. In the case of tobacco, this is true but is mitigated by the fact that tobacco is a drug and therefore particularly difficult for a user to do without their fix. On average, increasing tobacco taxes to raise prices by 10% reduces tobacco consumption by 4% in high-income countries and by about 5% in low- and middle-income countries[1]. In this perspective, it is important that these increases are significant and repeated and coupled with policies to support smokers' treatments. The tax policy associated with various anti-smoking measures implemented since 2017 clearly illustrates how repeated and significant tax increases encourage smokers to quit and dissuade young people from starting. In March 2020, excise duties will have increased for the 10th time in three years with a view to reaching 10 euros for the price of a standard packet of cigarettes. These increases were carried out in parallel with the support for tobacco addiction treatments but also the development of smoke-free spaces, which are particularly valuable for preventing relapses. This has significantly led to a reduction in the proportion of tobacco smokers in the adult population from 29.4% to 25.4% between 2016 and 2018.[2]. Price stability or limited increases as was the case between 2004 and 2012 or more recently between 2013 and 2017 are all the more ineffective since these moderate increases did not apply to all tobacco products. They basically corresponded to an increase in the margin of manufacturers and tobacconists but without impact on consumption. They have increased tax revenues but in a much more limited way than the significant increases of recent years. For tax increases to be fully beneficial, it is important that they apply to all tobacco products. Otherwise, there is a shift in consumption towards cheaper products. This has long been the case for rolling tobacco. More recently, manufacturers have been offering new products with very low tax levels, such as heated tobacco, in order to offer new appeal products to consumers. These products are presented as an alternative to traditional cigarettes, with the main argument that the refill pack (20 heets corresponding to a pack of cigarettes) remains at €7 despite the announced increases. This leads to both an expansion and a complexity of the market with an increasingly large offer of all kinds of products that try to escape cigarette taxation. ©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] https://www.who.int/tobacco/mpower/publications/fr_tfi_mpower_r.pdf?ua=1 [2] https://www.santepubliquefrance.fr/les-actualites/2018/tabagisme-en-france-1-million-de-fumeurs-quotidiens-en-moins | ©National Committee Against Smoking |