Tobacco tax increases raise the retail price of tobacco, encourage smokers to quit and dissuade youth from starting. As a result, tobacco tax increases are a CDC-recommended strategy for reducing tobacco addiction, illnesses due to tobacco and deaths.
A $1 tax-per-pack increase could be expected to decrease the number of cigarettes sold by about 8 percent in the first biennium. For each one percentage point decline in adult and youth smoking rates, Oregon can expect to see:
- 28,400 fewer current adult smokers.
- 460 fewer current pregnant smokers.
- 2,000 fewer high school smokers.
- A $269.8 million reduction in future health care costs from adult smoking.
- A $148.8 million reduction in future health costs from youth smoking.