Public Policy Resources

Share

Cigarette Tax Increases of $1.00+ Per Pack Ensure Public Health Impact

July 7, 2023

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) supports a comprehensive approach to tobacco control that includes significantly increasing excise taxes on all forms of tobacco. Regular, significant excise tax increases of $1.00 or more per pack of cigarettes are one of the most effective ways to prevent kids from starting to use cigarettes and to help adults quit. Tobacco excise taxes can also reduce tobacco-related health disparities among people with limited incomes, pregnant persons and among racial and ethnic populations.[i],[ii],[iii]

 

[i] The Community Guide. Tobacco Use: Interventions to Increase the Unite Price for Tobacco Products. November 2012. Retrieved from https://www.thecommunityguide.org/findings/tobacco-use-interventions-increase-unit-price-tobacco.

[ii] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Response to increases in cigarette prices by race/ethnicity, income, and age groups--United States, 1976-1993. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1998 Jul 31;47(29):605-9. PMID: 9699809.

[iii] Ringel, J.S., and Evans, W.  “Cigarette Taxes and Smoking During Pregnancy,” Am J Public Health, 2001 November; 91(11): 1851–1856. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1446890/. 

PDF icon Cigarette Tax Increases of $1.00+ Per Pack FINAL 7.07.23.pdf

Related Resources

November 8, 2024

History of the Racketeering Lawsuit Against the Tobacco Industry: Guilty of Deceiving the American Public

In 1999, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against major tobacco manufacturers Philip Morris USA, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard, and Altria to hold the industry accountable for more than 50 years of conspiring to defraud the public in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Big Tobacco, an industry which has for decades knowingly addicted and endangered the lives of millions of Americans for their own profit, must now post the truth about their deadly products, including at the point-of-sale (POS) for approximately 220,000 tobacco retailers.

Read More

ACS CAN & Federal Tobacco Litigation - An Overview

October 25, 2024

The tobacco industry has a history of using litigation to avoid and delay laws and regulations enacted to safeguard the public. ACS CAN, with our tobacco control partners, has also relied on the courts to hold Big Tobacco accountable and to ensure the federal government is effectively implementing the Tobacco Control Act.

Read more

Delayed Implementation of Graphic Warning Labels on Cigarettes Harms Public Health

October 25, 2024

Implementation of graphic warnings in the U.S. has been thwarted by tobacco industry legal challenges. The American Cancer Society (ACS) and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), along with our partners, have fought back in the judicial system, using litigation to both compel the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue graphic warning regulations and help the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) defend the regulations finalized by FDA.

Read more