World Health Organization urges governments to raise tobacco taxes to beat smoking

Spurred by the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which entered into force in 2005, most countries have launched comprehensive tobacco-control programs. It recommends that at least 75% of the price of a pack of cigarettes should be tax. If the tobacco epidemic is left unaddressed, the World Health Organization estimates that it will kill one billion people over the course of this century. While some states have imposed high taxes on tobacco products and cigarettes in particular, others are lagging behind. At least, 20 percent of them live in the region which accounts for 25 percent of the world’s smokers and nearly 90 percent of smokeless tobacco users.

Singh said that presently most countries have a complex and “tiered” tax structure that is not only hard to administer but also creates loopholes that undermine both the health and revenue impacts of tobacco excise taxes.

The WHO’s recommendation has been heeded by 33 countries including Bangladesh, Croatia and New Zealand, which tax cigarettes at more than three-fourths of their value.

Before a release of a given Report located on the Global Tobacco Epidemic…

In a new report, the World Health Organization strongly urges governments to raise taxes on tobacco in a global effort to reduce the number of deaths from tobacco-related disease.

“Increasing tobacco taxes is the most cost-effective measure of tobacco control, it is a win-win approach for government revenues and the health of the population”.

The report also contains guidelines on how to implement price and tax measures to reduce the demand for tobacco. “Countries should consider implementing the provisions of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products to confront the illegal market”, she adds. Indeed, tobacco taxation is an untapped source of domestic financing that will be important for the successful implementation of the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. By raising the cost of tobacco, we have the potential to reverse the epidemic, prevent widespread illness and suffering, and save millions of lives every year. In 2012 these diseases killed 16 million people under the age of 70, with more than 80% of those deaths in poor or middle-income countries.

Tobacco is one of the four main risk factors behind non-communicable diseases, mostly cancers, cardiovascular and lung diseases and diabetes.

“Evidence from countries such as China and France shows that higher tobacco product prices linked to increased taxes lead to declines in smoking prevalence and tobacco-related harm, such as lung cancer deaths”, he said.