My doctoral thesis is on the subject of the advertising and sale of tobacco products within the European Union. In preparation of said thesis, I had to immerse myself in the subject of tobacco and smoking, and whilst not the main feature of my research I came to appreciate the socio-historical context of tobacco and the consumption thereof.
It is to be noted that until the discovery of the Americas in 1492, the tobacco plant was unknown in Europe. However, from accounts of the period, it seems evident that in the new world tobacco was valued very highly by the natives, so much so that it was invariably one of the offerings which they offered to the Spanish Conquistadores.
It was thus inevitable that many of the sailors who come in contact with tobacco experimented with it, thereby acquiring a habit for smoking. These sailors were, at least in part, responsible for the introduction and consequent wide-dissemination of the tobacco plant and of the habit of smoking in the Old World.
My attention was brought to the subject of smoking and the consumption of tobacco when reading what Dr. Ray Busuttil, the Director at the Health Division, was quoted as saying about the subject in a section of the printed media. (TMI – 10/6/08).
Dr. Busuttil is quoted suggesting that ‘the best way to tackle smoking and to get people to give up or not start at all is price…price was definitely the most effective manner in which to curb smoking.’
I’m sorry to say but Dr. Busuttil is quite wrong in his analysis. His advocacy for price hikes has been tried and tested time and time again, and each time such measures have failed. Indeed, economists will be quick to point out that the only benefit to emerge from such a policy is in terms of increased revenue to the State through increased taxation.
One needs to point out to Dr. Busuttil and others of his ilk that tobacco and the consumption thereof has what in economic terms is described to be an inelastic demand. In other words, price levels in general do not affect the levels of consumption for the product in question.
The fact is that tobacco is an addictive product. Once hooked, a person will not, indeed in most cases cannot, be deterred by a shift in the price of the product. Indeed, Dr. Busuttil might wish to note that in times gone by, when the habit of smoking in some countries was treated as a criminal offence punishable, in the extreme cases, by death, people still continued with their habit of smoking.
Thus, for instance, Sultan Murad IV of Turkey who not only gave orders that all places where people met to smoke tobacco should be razed to the ground, but also proceeded to forbid the use of tobacco under penalty of death, failed in his attempts to curb the consumption of tobacco.
Whilst it is acknowledged that smoking has negative consequences, and it is acceptable that measures are taken to protect third parties from undesired exposure to the consumption of tobacco, the State must be honest with its citizens. Trying to mask fiscal measures by using health protection excuses is simply not on.
It is to be noted that until the discovery of the Americas in 1492, the tobacco plant was unknown in Europe. However, from accounts of the period, it seems evident that in the new world tobacco was valued very highly by the natives, so much so that it was invariably one of the offerings which they offered to the Spanish Conquistadores.
It was thus inevitable that many of the sailors who come in contact with tobacco experimented with it, thereby acquiring a habit for smoking. These sailors were, at least in part, responsible for the introduction and consequent wide-dissemination of the tobacco plant and of the habit of smoking in the Old World.
My attention was brought to the subject of smoking and the consumption of tobacco when reading what Dr. Ray Busuttil, the Director at the Health Division, was quoted as saying about the subject in a section of the printed media. (TMI – 10/6/08).
Dr. Busuttil is quoted suggesting that ‘the best way to tackle smoking and to get people to give up or not start at all is price…price was definitely the most effective manner in which to curb smoking.’
I’m sorry to say but Dr. Busuttil is quite wrong in his analysis. His advocacy for price hikes has been tried and tested time and time again, and each time such measures have failed. Indeed, economists will be quick to point out that the only benefit to emerge from such a policy is in terms of increased revenue to the State through increased taxation.
One needs to point out to Dr. Busuttil and others of his ilk that tobacco and the consumption thereof has what in economic terms is described to be an inelastic demand. In other words, price levels in general do not affect the levels of consumption for the product in question.
The fact is that tobacco is an addictive product. Once hooked, a person will not, indeed in most cases cannot, be deterred by a shift in the price of the product. Indeed, Dr. Busuttil might wish to note that in times gone by, when the habit of smoking in some countries was treated as a criminal offence punishable, in the extreme cases, by death, people still continued with their habit of smoking.
Thus, for instance, Sultan Murad IV of Turkey who not only gave orders that all places where people met to smoke tobacco should be razed to the ground, but also proceeded to forbid the use of tobacco under penalty of death, failed in his attempts to curb the consumption of tobacco.
Whilst it is acknowledged that smoking has negative consequences, and it is acceptable that measures are taken to protect third parties from undesired exposure to the consumption of tobacco, the State must be honest with its citizens. Trying to mask fiscal measures by using health protection excuses is simply not on.
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Indeed, economists will be quick to point out that the only benefit to emerge from such a policy is in terms of increased revenue to the State through increased taxation.
There's a flip side to that one too: in cases where taxes on cigarettes are too high these act as an incentive for cigarette smuggling which has become a lucrative activity in the last years.
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