New interactive data modelling tool shows economic, health gains of raising tobacco taxes

A new, interactive modelling tool demonstrates how countries can use tobacco taxes to quickly generate millions in new revenue, reduce smoking, increase economic productivity and recover millions in healthcare expenses on treatment of smoking-related illnesses.
The Cost Recovery and Revenue Estimator (CoRRE) uses recent data from more than 100 countries to estimate the tax revenue gain possible depending on different potential tax scenarios. At a webinar held on Tuesday, Jeffrey Drope, director of the Economics for Health team at Johns Hopkins University, and Nigar Nargis, senior scientific director, American Cancer Society provided an overview of current trends in tobacco control and a demonstration of the interactive modelling tool.
Developed by Vital Strategies, American Cancer Society and the Economics for Health team at Johns Hopkins University, CoRRE is designed for the public health community, advocates and policymakers to assess the economic and health gains possible by raising tax on tobacco products.
'Decades of research shows that these tax reforms consistently raise considerable new tax revenues while saving lives and generally making societies healthier, including driving down the incidence of multiple cancers, among many other noncommunicable diseases,' Nargis said while responding to queries.
CoRRE was developed as part of the latest edition of The Tobacco Atlas, which also provides in-depth analysis on tobacco use prevalence, taxes and many other tobacco control policies and programmes around the world. Experts also strongly advocated for tobacco taxes as one of the most effective—yet underutilised—strategies to prevent tobacco initiation, encourage cessation, and reduce overall tobacco use.
Drope observed that the annual cost of tobacco use is staggering. 'Eight million lives are lost each year globally and around $2 trillion in economic damage – much of that from the average of 11 years of life that smokers lose. This means lower economic productivity,' he said during the webinar.
As per The Tobacco Atlas, 8.9 per cent of all deaths in India are caused by tobacco use. The economic cost of smoking and tobacco use in India is approximately Rs 1.97 lakh crore each year. This includes direct costs related to healthcare expenditures and indirect costs related to lost productivity caused by illness and premature death.
Anuradha Mascarenhas is a journalist with The Indian Express and is based in Pune. A senior editor, Anuradha writes on health, research developments in the field of science and environment and takes keen interest in covering women's issues. With a career spanning over 25 years, Anuradha has also led teams and often coordinated the edition.
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