For years, a tax on tobacco products has been implemented to decrease the sale of tobacco products. Estimates from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) indicates, that for adults, the association between cigarette taxes and either smoking participation or smoking intensity is negative, small and not usually statistically significant.
However, the College of Business Administration, Health Policy and Administration at the University of Illinois has come up with a different conclusion. At the U of I, the experts agreed that there was sufficient evidence of effectiveness of increased tobacco excise taxes and prices in reducing overall tobacco consumption and prevalence of tobacco use and improvement of public health, including by preventing initiation and uptake among young people, promoting cessation among current users and lowering consumption among those who continue to use.
The difference is these two evaluations may have been with the people who were targeted for the studies and/or the direct correlation where the tax money is going. It seams that if the tax money is earmarked for tobacco control or health purposes, people are for the tax. According to Abt Associates, a global leader in research and program implementation in the fields of health, social and environmental policy, and international development, for an earmarked tax, support was stronger among younger persons, females, persons with higher education, racial/ethnic minorities, and smokers with children.
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