Suggested Chart
X axis: One of the state tobacco control variables Y axis: Per capita sales of cigarettes or adult smoking prevalence
Size: Percentage of US population Color: Price of a pack of cigarettes
Cigarette smoking has a linear relationship with state cigarette tax – states with higher taxes have a lower prevalence of adult smoking and have a lower per capita consumption of cigarettes. Most states increased their cigarette tax between 2000 and 2008, and experienced subsequent reductions in cigarette smoking. The relationship of cigarette smoking and state funding for tobacco control is less straight-forward, possibly due to lack of stability in state funding across years. That is, the state cigarette tax may increase but it rarely decreases, whereas state funding for tobacco control frequently decreased.
Data Source:
- Orzechowski and Walker (2008). The Tax Burden on Tobacco Historical Compilation Volume 43, 2008. Arlington, Virginia.
- State Cigarette Tax
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data. Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009.
- A Decade of Broken Promises: The 1998 State Tobacco Settlement Ten Years Later American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
- U.S. Census Bureau (2008). Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto.