This fall, Californians will vote on whether to implement a tobacco tax hike. But as voters prepare to head to the polls, California Healthline recently asked one important question: Would the proposed tobacco tax hike reduce smoking?
Research and anecdotal evidence suggest it may do just that, according to the report.
California Healthline cites a 2014 report on smoking by the U.S. surgeon general, which found that for every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes, smoking is reduced by 4 percent.
Also, according to the report, each time over the past decade or so that New York state increased its tobacco tax — now at $4.35 per pack of cigarettes — calls to the state's Quitline increased.
In California, voters will decide whether to raise the cigarette tax from 87 cents per pack to $2.87 a pack.
Still, opponents to the California measure, called Proposition 56, claim proponents "are telling us Proposition 56 is all about helping people stop smoking. But follow the money, and you’ll find out that only 13 percent of the new taxes would actually help people quit."
Of the $1.4 billion that Proposition 56 is expected to raise from the tax, 13 percent would go to the state’s cessation programs.
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