Ref. No.: QM0009
op y Smoking: A Costly Affair Now?
“An estimated 440,000 Americans die each year from diseases caused by smoking. Smoking is responsible for an estimated one in five U.S. deaths and costs the U.S. over $150 billion each year in health care costs and lost productivity.”1
– American Lung Association
No tC On April 1st 2009, the US government had spiked the federal cigarette-tax rate from 39¢ to $1.01 per pack. As smoking had been taking toll on human lives, the anti-smoking advocates welcomed the administration’s move stating that it would save an estimated 900,000 lives. However, some of the
Exhibit I smokers worried about raising cost of their habit
Worried Smokers
(Exhibit I).
This kind of taxation is often called as ‘sin tax’, as it was mainly imposed on vices like gambling, drinking and smoking. Recent hike in sin tax expected to stop around 2 million kids from trying to smoke for the first time and prompt almost 1 million adults to quit.
The sin tax had historical roots since 1500s. Pope
Leo X had taxed the licensed prostitutes. Peter the
Source: “Can Raising the Tobacco Tax Reduce the Number of Smokers?”, http://www.bjreview.com.cn/forum/txt/2009-02/10/content_177671.htm, February 12 2009
Great levied tax on men who grew beards.
American sin taxation began with the proposal of an American patriot, Alexander Hamilton, who proposed taxation on alcohol to contain its consumption and simultaneously to raise the revenues for the government (Exhibit II). th “Smoking Cessation Resources Fact Sheet”, http://www.lungusa.org/site/c.dvLUK9O0E/b.44456/k.7B2A/
Smoking_Cessation_Resources_Fact_Sheet.htm, July 2004
Do
1
This case study was written by Thalluri Prashanth Vidya Sagar, IBSCDC. It is intended to be used as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. The case was compiled from