Fraser Institute Says Tobacco Regulation Inflamed by Taxes, Not by Smoking
Contact:
Filip Palda, Senior Fellow
The Fraser Institute, (514) 990-5204 (pager),Patrick Basham, Director of the Social Affairs Centre
The Fraser Institute, (604) 714-4549, Email: patrickb@fraserinstitute.caRelease Date: 26 July 2000
VANCOUVER,BC>>>Tobacco regulation has missed its objective of decreasing smoking says a new paper, The History of Tobacco Regulation: Forward to the Past, released today by The Fraser Institute. "I suggest that government regulation of tobacco is a mix of good intentions, confusion, and the self-interest of regulators and their supporters," says the paper's author Filip Palda, economist, and Senior Fellow at The Fraser Institute.
The evidence is questionable that government interventions have lowered the rate of smoking. It seems, instead, that government interventions have been directed more to the punitive taxation of smokers than to their salvation.
The publication analyzes the history of tobacco regulation - including advertising controls, taxation, and bans through to the current wave of litigation - and the reasons why government regulates tobacco.
Trends in smoking have been firmly at odds with trends in regulation. However, regulation does seem well-coordinated with tax increases on smokers. Palda conjectures that regulation and taxes go hand-in-hand because regulation helps to shame smokers into accepting rising taxes on their habit.
Palda's research shows that as smokers grew in number throughout the first half of the twentieth century there was little impetus to enforce tobacco regulations. Regulatory questions of the 1940s dealt mainly with how to sustain the industry. However, the social forces ranged against tobacco started growing in the 1950s.
In fact, the desire to live long enough to enjoy greater income seems to be a pressing concern of the second half of the century and may explain why smoking in the last 30 years has fallen as income has risen. The evidence suggests there is a strong tendency for smoking to fall among all citizens as their incomes rise.
Governments began to raise health concerns in the 1960s, but it does not appear that government was the main cause of the decline in smoking. Regulation of smoking started to intensify in the 1970s, when smokers started falling into a minority. Only in the 1980s, with smokers comprising just one-third of the population, did anti-smoking laws take full effect.
"The message of this paper is that before asking governments to regulate tobacco we must ask whether friends, family, colleagues and society in general are not already imposing their own informal restrictions on smokers," concludes Palda.
This publication is the first in a series of research papers highlighting specific aspects of the highly-charged debate over tobacco regulation.
Established in 1974, The Fraser Institute is an independent public policy organization based in Vancouver.
For further information contact:
Suzanne Walters, Director of Communications,
The Fraser Institute, (604) 714-4582,
Email suzannew@fraserinstitute.ca
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