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Déjà vu: end-games and old refrains

Following a dramatic increase in contraband cigarettes on the market in 2008, the tobacco industry and its allies (namely the Canadian Convenience Stores Association) have been extremely vocal in demanding that tobacco taxes be reduced (industry end-game) in order to combat contraband (industry inconvenience). Picking up where it left off after the 1990’s smuggling debacle (industry strategy), the industry continues to contend that price reduction through lower taxes is the only viable solution to reduce contraband and that it is the government’s responsibility to intervene.

Additional Information from the Tobacco Control Reference Catalogue

Cigarette taxes and older adult smoking : evidence from recent large tax increases
DeCicca, Philip; McLeod, Logan.
Journal of Health Economics. 27(4): 918-929. July 2008. [Article]
Data from the 2000 to 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System reveals consistently that higher taxes decrease smoking by older adults, particularly among those who live in lowincome households and who are not highly educated. These findings differ from current research that implies cessation behaviour among older adults is not affected by price.

Fact sheet 1.5 : tobacco taxes Ontario Tobacco Research Unit.
Toronto: Ontario Tobacco Research Unit (OTRU). [Fact Sheet]
An important impetus for the decline of smoking in Canada has been tax increases, which have resulted in large increases in cigarette prices, and at the same time, increasing government revenue. This fact sheet presents data on provincial, territorial and federal tobacco tax increases from 2003 to 2007.

Public policy implications of tobacco industry smuggling through Native American reservations into Canada
Kelton, Max H.; Givel, Michael S.
International Journal of Health Services. 38(3): 471-487. 2008. [Article]
From 1980 to 1994, the Canadian government enacted excise tax increases on cigarettes, which resulted in a significant increase in tobacco smuggling from the United States into Canada through Native American reservations. The tobacco industry promoted smuggling to both increase profits and to provide an argument for tobacco taxation reduction.

Raising taxes to reduce smoking prevalence in the US : a simulation of the anticipated health and economic impacts
Ahmad, Sajjad; Franz, Gregor A.
Public Health. 122(1): 3-10. January 2008. [Article]
Uses a dynamic computer simulation model to measure the economic and health effects of increasing cigarette taxes in the US over twenty years. Increasing cigarette taxes would produce larger tax revenues, decrease smoking prevalence, and reduce health care costs.