Retail prices make poor targets for excise tax policy, often reflecting factors that have little to do with the underlying reasons for which an excise tax is levied in the first place. Unfortunately, the World Health Organization (WHO) has a growing preference for using tax share of retail price (tax incidence) as a primary policy target.
6 min read
Academic research has continually found that making alternative nicotine products to cigarettes more expensive results in fewer smokers switching to less harmful products.
7 min read
Two bills in Oklahoma and Louisiana shift towards a weight-based system for taxing moist snuff tobacco (MST), a policy that ensures neutral taxation across products and less revenue volatility.
4 min read
Delaware Governor Matt Meyer (D) has proposed a new state budget that includes roughly $18.9 million in additional annual revenue from higher tobacco taxes.
4 min read
The vaping industry has grown rapidly in recent decades, becoming a well-established product category and a viable alternative to cigarettes for those trying to quit smoking. US states levy a variety of tax structures on vaping products.
8 min read
Coming into 2026, several states are eyeing new or increased Alternative Tobacco Product (ATP) taxes.
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As states grapple with taxing the evolving tobacco and nicotine market, policymakers should carefully consider the tax mix they implement.
Although New York’s 2027 budget proposal avoids tax increases on income, sales, and property taxes, it is full of policy proposals that threaten the long-run integrity of the state’s finances and harm New York taxpayers.
5 min read
To design an effective excise tax policy around smoking tobacco & nicotine products, it is crucial to consider the concept of harm reduction.
6 min read
Cigarette tax avoidance costs states billions in forgone tax revenue and necessitates additional spending on enforcement of the ineffective policies.
6 min read
Creative destruction—coined by famed economist Joseph Schumpeter—is the idea that new innovations disrupt and “destroy” existing economic structures as they create better and more efficient products and processes.
4 min read
Countries and global organizations should recognize the harms caused by cigarette smuggling and the fact that this illicit trade is a direct result of exorbitant tax policies.
5 min read
Growing cigarette tax levels and differentials have made cigarette smuggling both a national problem and a lucrative criminal enterprise.
6 min read
Summer has arrived, and states are beginning to implement policy changes that were enacted during this year’s legislative session (or that have delayed effective dates or are being phased in over time).
28 min read
Instead of doubling down on a shrinking tax base, Ohio lawmakers should instead look towards tax solutions that secure the state’s long-term fiscal health.
4 min read
New leadership at the FDA will have the opportunity to revisit decisions that have shifted consumption to illicit products and discouraged harm reduction—policies that, however well intended, have come at a significant cost in lives.
7 min read
An update to the EU’s Excise Tax Directive that embraces harm reduction principles would save lives and provide a steady stream of revenue to support public health expenditures.
22 min read
The US already has massive problems with cigarette smuggling. A cigarette prohibition would be devastating to tax coffers while pushing smokers toward what could become the world’s largest illicit market.
4 min read
Tax avoidance is a natural consequence of tax policy. Policymakers should consider the unintended consequences, both to public health and public coffers, of the excise taxes and regulatory regimes for cigarettes and other nicotine products.
5 min read
Growing cigarette tax levels and differentials have made cigarette smuggling both a national problem and a lucrative criminal enterprise.
16 min read