Sin Taxes Synthesis

“Sin taxes” are a type of excise tax levied on harmful products such as alcohol or tobacco. One of cigarette taxes’ purposes is to reduce smoking habits. However, what seems like a simple solution to generate revenue for the government and deter a harmful habit has social consequences that cannot be overlooked. Because cigarette taxes are currently regressing society by hurting low-income smokers and encouraging smuggling in the United States, they should either be revoked, or the generated revenue should be used to fund health organizations.

The World Health Organization (WHO), a branch of the United Nations concerned with public health, claims that cigarette taxes should be authorized because they prevent smoking related deaths. WHO hypothesizes

William Evans and Matthew Farrelly, authors of The Compensating Behavior of Smokers: Taxes, Tar, and Nicotine from The RAND Journal of Economics, make the argument that cigarette taxes are ineffective because smokers still manage to fulfill their nicotine intake. Their research shows that “smokers in high-tax states are more likely to smoke cigarettes that are longer and higher in tar and nicotine than are smokers in low-tax states” (Evans and Ferrelly 576). In fact, the average consumption rate of nicotine for young people has increased as a result of purchasing cigarettes with more nicotine (Evans and Ferrelly 576). This evidence shows that cigarette taxes are ineffective because they do not decrease smoking behavior, since smokers are compensating fewer cigarettes with ones higher in nicotine content. Evans and Ferrelly use this evidence to argue that cigarette taxes do not achieve their purpose of decreasing smoking habits. Cigarette taxes fail to achieve their purpose, yet the consequences they have caused remain

The writers address a paradox in their work, Taxing Sin – that is, in order to make revenue, the government depends on the public to purchase cigarettes in the first place (Williams and Christ). This defeats the purpose of cigarette taxes, which is to reduce smoking behavior. Meanwhile, evidence from CDC shows that the revenue made from cigarette taxes is barely used to fund public health organizations. This raises the question of whether cigarette taxes are authorized to increase public health or solely to generate revenue for the government. Because the purpose appears to be to generate revenue, Williams and Christ oppose the authorization of cigarette