http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20081120/OPINION03/811200315
The News-Star, a Louisiana newspaper, had an article about trying to reduce the impact of youth smoking. It talks about how youth can have a big impact for the people that smoke and how there's going to be a youth-led anti-tobacco movement. Their focus is to keep teenagers from starting to smoke, and one of the campaigns is called Raiseup. The goal of Raiseup is to raise the excise tax on cigarettes by $1, where the revenue would go to Louisiana's budget. The article states that "studies show that for every 10 percent increase in the excise tax, youth smoking decreases by 7 percent."
In Chapter 3, an important concept is about excise taxes, which are taxes levied by the government on the suppliers of certain products. The taxes may be used as a source of revenue for the government. In relation to the article, the revenue from the excise tax on cigarettes would go to the state's budget. Along with that, they're hoping that by raising the excise tax, this will help to stop teens from starting to smoke. With the majority of teens, price is a factor for a lot of things, so raising the excise tax on cigarettes may be the solution to reduce teen smoking.
Everyone's probably been exposed to second-hand smoke at some point in their lives, and for those who don't smoke, it's probably just plain disgusting. I don't encourage smoking either, so I think it's a pretty good idea to raise the excise tax for cigarettes. A lot of teens don't work, and for the ones that do, it would be part time and roughly $10/hour, which doesn't add up to nearly as much as a full-time working adult. If there is a price increase, many teens won't be able to afford it, so hopefully they'll think twice before the start. On the other hand, teens who are already addicted to it will probably find some other way to get it, like sponging them off of wealthier friends or family.
3 comments:
The article that you have chosen has clearly shown what excise tax is through a very good example.
I think that an increase of the excise tax on cigarettes by $1 is a very significant amount; however, in my personal opinion, I think that a lot of teens now a days don't exactly have a very good mind for money management, and some would go for the smoke anyway. But after the statistic that was shown in your summary: how for every 10% increase in the excise tax, there is a decrease of 7% in teen smoke. That's pretty amazing, too. That is, if it's really the genuine fact.
I, my self is not a fan of smoking either; and I truly believe that smoking is not a solution for any of the reasons of those youths who chose to start smoking.
I just wonder if anything stupid would ever happen because of this raise in the excise taxes on cigarettes... like teen robbing/stealing/injuring someone just to get a puff! :D
- Christy Leung
This article is very interesting to me, mainly because the fact that the money from the excise tax is not going directly to the government, but to Louisiana's budget. Aside from that, I also find it amazing how a 10% increase in the price of cigarettes will decrease youth smoking by 7%! Is this only in the United States, or do you think the statistics are the same for Canada as well? I personally thought that an increase in the price of cigarettes wouldn't cause the demand to change all that much because the smokers would probably be addicted, and will buy the cigarettes regardless of the price. I agree that it's probably because most teens wouldn't have a large, consistent source of income, and this has made the cigarettes an elastic product.
Furthermore, this article is very similar to my own in a sense that excise taxes are imposed, although the increase in excise taxes for cigarettes is actually succeeding in its goal, whereas excise taxes for alcoholic drinks causes companies to find loopholes for the taxes.
K. Chan
Block F
The correlation between the 10% increase in excise tax and 7% decrease in teen smoking is quite interesting. I do believe, however, that the 7% decrease is mainly accounted for by teenagers that are not yet entirely addicted to cigarettes. What can we do help the teenagers that are already addicted? For these addicted teenagers (and adults alike), $1 is unlikely to be enough of a factor for them to quit smoking. These addicted teenagers will likely opt to work an extra shift or two a week to offset the increase in excise tax (and perhaps smoke even more because they have more income and stress). Since the increase in excise tax is unlikely to stop addicted teenagers from smoking, it would be wise to increase the excise tax to $2 or $3. I would believe that this would both raise money going to Louisiana’s budget and further decrease teen smoking. The only way to substantially reduce smoking worldwide is to target young children and ingrain the negative effects of smoking into their minds. Unfortunately, the tobacco industry is a large part of many countries’ economies and so, I am weary to believe that cigarettes will ever disappear from our society.
Eric Szeto
Block E
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