Sustaining our gains in tobacco taxation

YELLOW PAD PIA RODRIGO

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Last December, Economics for Health launched the fourth edition of its Cigarette Tax Scorecard, which studied cigarette tax policies in 171 countries, based on indicators including the absolute price of cigarettes, change in cigarette affordability, share of taxes in retail price, and tax structure.

The study found that most governments are failing to implement best practices in tobacco taxation, as the 2024 global average cigarette tax score of 2.01 points out of five has not changed significantly since 2022 when it was 2.02. Economics for Health, formerly known as Tobacconomics, noted that governments are not sufficiently raising taxes or updating them for inflation and real income growth.

‘The Philippines, however, is maintaining its position as a global leader in cigarette taxation, as reflected in the 2024 version of the scorecard: the Philippines had the fourth highest overall cigarette tax score in the world and the highest cigarette tax score in Asia, with 3.75 out of five, only trailing behind the UK (4.13), Finland (4.00), and Belgium (3.88).