Raising tax and reducing tobacco consumption

The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing nearly 6 million people a year. More than 5 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while more than 6,00,000 are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.
Unless we act, the epidemic will kill more than 8 million people every year by 2030. More than 80% of these preventable deaths will be among people living in low-and middle-income countries like Bangladesh.
In order to save those lives, World Health Organisation (WHO) and partners call on countries to raise taxes on tobacco which was focused on World No Tobacco Day 2014 observed yesterday.
Raising taxes on tobacco is the most cost-effective solution for reducing tobacco use in all types of settings. The experience of the Philippines and other countries, including Egypt, France and Turkey, shows that raising tobacco taxes is feasible and has real benefits for the health sector and beyond.
Research shows that higher taxes are especially effective in reducing tobacco use among lower-income groups and in preventing young people from starting to smoke. A tax increase that increases tobacco prices by 10% decreases tobacco consumption by about 4% in high-income countries and by up to 8% in most low- and middle-income countries.
Price increases through taxes usually bring the biggest health benefit to people with the least amount of money, including young people. Reductions in use among young people due to price increases are on average two to three times larger than those that occur among adults.
Furthermore, increasing excise taxes on tobacco is considered to be the most cost-effective tobacco control measure. The World Health Report 2010 indicated that a 50% increase in tobacco excise taxes would generate a little more than US$ 1.4 billion in additional funds in 22 low-income countries. If allocated to health, government health spending in these countries could increase by up to 50%.
WHO calculates that if all countries increased taxes on cigarette packs by 50%, there would be 49 million fewer smokers (38 million fewer adult smokers and 11 million fewer young future smokers) and this would avert 11 million deaths from smoking (based on WHO simulations using 2012 data).
The benefits of cessation are many and occur for a number of serious diseases soon after quitting. Only one year after quitting smoking, the risk of coronary heart disease is about half that of a smoker. After 10 years of cessation, the risk of lung cancer falls to about half that of a smoker, and there is a decreased risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, oesophagus, bladder, cervix and pancreas.
Even so, high tobacco taxes is a measure that is rarely used. Only 32 countries, less than 8% of the world's population, have tobacco tax rates greater than 75% of the retail price. Tobacco tax revenues are on average 175 times higher than spending on tobacco control, based on available data. Thus, individuals and civil society organisations should encourage governments to increase taxes on tobacco to levels that reduce consumption to save millions from early grave.

Source: World Health Organisation