Taxing tobacco to reduce expenditures on illnesses

Over the last 10 years, impressive gains have been made in the battle against the tobacco epidemic. Spurred by the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which came into force in 2005, most countries have launched comprehensive tobacco-control programs. But much more remains to be done. If the tobacco epidemic is not addressed, it will, according to WHO estimates, kill 1 billion people over the course of this century.

Tobacco use has the potential to undermine economic and social development worldwide. In order to offset this, the WHO has identified six policies - encapsulated in the acronym MPOWER - that can stamp out the tobacco epidemic: Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies; protect people from tobacco smoke; offer help to quit tobacco use; warn people about the dangers of tobacco; enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship; and raise taxes on tobacco.

According to the latest WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, levying taxes on tobacco is one of the cheapest and most effective measures to prevent death and suffering. Unfortunately, it is a tool that few countries are using.