Every year, on 31 May, the World Health Organization and partners mark World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), which seeks to highlight the health and additional risks associated with tobacco use, and advocate for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption.  The theme for World No Tobacco Day 2017 is “Tobacco – a threat to development.”

A blogpost by Patricio Marquez of the World Bank Group, commemorating WNTD, reaffirms the important role played by tobacco taxes in deterring tobacco use and promoting economic development and urges countries to give increased attention and effort toward tobacco taxation. Only 33 countries impose taxes that consistute more than 75 % of the retail price of a pack of cigarettes – the taxation level recommended to deter consumption.

Below are links to some recent reports by members of the World Bank Group on tobacco taxation experiences in countries around the world. Click on the report you are interested in and you will automatically be directed to the page!

Bouw, A. 2017. Tobacco taxation in the European Union : an overview. Tobacco taxation. Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group.

Bredenkamp, C.,  Iglesias, R. & Kaiser, K.  2016. Sin Tax Reform in the Philippines : Transforming Public Finance, Health, and Governance for More Inclusive Development. Directions in Development–Countries and Regions. Washington, DC: World Bank. 

Cetinkaya, V. & Marquez, P.V. 2017. Tobacco taxation in Turkey : an overview of policy measures and results. Tobacco taxation. Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group.

Fuchs, A. & Meneses, P. 2017. Are tobacco taxes really regressive? : evidence from Chile. Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group.

Hu, Xiao.,  Marquez, P. V. & Zheng, R. 2017. Cigarette affordability in China : 2001-2016. Tobacco taxation. Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group.

Irwin, A. & Marquez, P. V. 2017. Modeling the long-term health and cost impacts of reducing smoking prevalence through tobacco taxation in Ukraine. Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group.

Lavado, R., Postolovska, I., Tarr, G. & Verguet, S. 2017. Estimating the distributional impact of increasing taxes on tobacco products in Armenia : results from an extended cost-effectiveness analysis. Tobacco taxation. Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group.

Marquez, P.V. 2016. Expanding the Global Tax Base: Taxing to Promote Public Goods: Tobacco Taxes. Summary report. Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group.

World Bank Group Global Tobacco Control Programme. 2017. Infographics on Tobacco taxation. Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group. 

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