A recent study published on BMJ’s Tobacco Control, suggests that state cigarette excise tax increases could help achieve the country’s goal of having a 5% cigarette smoking rate.
The Healthy People 2030 goal is to reduce US current adult cigarette smoking prevalence to 5% by 2030.
In order to determine whether this goal is achievable using state cigarette excise tax increases, a researcher from the American Cancer Society’s Department of Surveillance and Health Equity Science, analyzed linear trends in smoking prevalence over 2011–2019 and compared them with the desired linear trends for achieving the 5% goal.
The compiled data indicated that the desired trends for achieving 5% smoking prevalence target by 2030 seems only achievable in five states (eg, Washington, Utah, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maryland) and the DC. It suggests that majority of states and the USA overall, will miss the target smoking prevalence at the current rate of reduction in smoking. The researcher said that 45 states would need systematic annual increases in cigarette excise tax rate in a range of $0.02–$1.37 per pack over 2022–2030, to meet the target.
Diane Caruana – Vaping Post – 2022-01-21.