Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/285220 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Citation: 
[Journal:] Health Economics Review [ISSN:] 2191-1991 [Volume:] 11 [Issue:] 1 [Article No.:] 30 [Year:] 2021 [Pages:] 1-10
Publisher: 
Springer, Heidelberg
Abstract: 
Background: To assess the potential impact of a tax-induced cigarette price increase on financial and health outcomes by different socioeconomic groups. Methods: In a modeled condition using pooled cross-section data from Household Income and Expenditure Survey (2002-2017) and Iran 2019 population data, a methodology of an extended cost effectiveness analysis (ECEA) was applied to model the impact on cigarette consumption of hypothetically increased cigarette tax. The methodology was employed to evaluate: [1] health benefits (premature deaths averted); [2] health expenditures regarding smoking-related disease treatment averted; [3] additional tax revenues raised; [4] change in household expenditures on cigarettes; and [5] financial risk protection among male Iranian smokers in a time span of 60 years following a one-time increase in cigarette price of 75%. The Stata version 15.1 (StataCorp., College Station, TX, USA) was used to perform the relevant analysis and estimate regression models. Results: A 75% increase in cigarettes price through taxation would reduce the number of smokers by more than half a million, 11% of them in the poorest quintile; save about 1.9 million years of life (11% of which would be gained in the lowest quintile compared to 20% in the highest one); eliminate a total of US$196.4 million of health expenditures (9% of which would benefit the bottom quintile). Such a policy could raise the additional annual tax revenues by roughly US$ 1 billion, where the top two quintiles bear around 46% of the total tax burden. We estimated that the tax increase would avert an estimated 56,287 cases of catastrophic expenditure that wholly concentrated among the bottom two expenditure quintiles. Conclusion: Increasing cigarette tax can provide health and financial benefits, and would be pro-poor in terms of health gains, Out-of-Pocket (OOP) savings, and financial risk protection against smoking-related diseases.
Subjects: 
Taxes
Elasticity
Cigarette smoking
Outcome assessment
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article

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