2. Is it possible to share the PowerPoint Presentation of Mr. Matthew Myers and Muhammad Bigwanto?

 

A - Please have a look at our Tobacconomics Cigarette Tax Scorecard (link: https://tobacconomics.org/research/cigarette-tax-scorecard/) to see who are the highest performing countries in the world (spoiler alert: it’s Australia and New Zealand). That said, all of the countries scoring in the Top 50 and even some thereafter are experiencing declines in consumption as a direct result of improved tobacco taxation (i.e., higher excise taxes!). It is very easy to reap these rewards if you implement higher tobacco excise taxes and the higher you make the tax rates and better you structure your tax system for tobacco products, the more reward you will see in terms of lower consumption (and as a result, lower tobacco-related healthcare costs and higher productivity because you have a healthier workforce) and increased revenue that you can apply to health, education and other areas that promote development.

A - I’m not totally sure what this question is asking but I think they’re asking about using tobacco taxes to re-coup the huge economic damage wrought by tobacco use. There isn’t a country yet in the world where tobacco tax revenues are greater than the economic damage caused by tobacco use (in other words, societies are essentially subsidizing the tobacco industry by absorbing these costs instead of the industry paying for it). But, we certainly have a goal to aim for knowing that we can raise tobacco excise taxes to a very high rate and justify that it still isn’t covering these costs—it is an excellent argument to use in support of tobacco taxes.