Strategies to Reduce Cigarette Sales

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Abstract
CIGARETTES are among the highest taxed consumer products. In the United States, one third of receipts from civilian retail cigarette sales goes to federal, state, and local treasuries in the form of excise or sales tax, and in fiscal year 1984, the federal government's share of $10.1 billion in tax revenue was greater than $4.7 billion.1Yet in view of the enormous cost of smoking-induced illness (estimated by health economists to be between $39 and $55 billion per year, or a minimum of 10% of the national outlay for health care2), it is hard to believe that cigarette taxes are not specifically earmarked for health care, much less to discourage smoking. Indeed, if the recent year-long debate in Congress over whether to retain the 16-cent federal tax is any indication, then there is little doubt that the government sees cigarette taxes solely as a means for deficit reduction.

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