Tax hike on tobacco could save 25,000 lives
CGHR would like to take a moment to remember the positive impact of the late Minister Flaherty’s tobacco control policies. His efforts to increase tobacco taxation ought to be commended and will in the future help prevent unnecessary early death from tobacco related diseases in Canada.
Toronto Star article from February 2014:
“[Late] Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has put Canada in the medal hunt for the tobacco control Olympics. But if he wants the gold, he is going to have to do more.”
“Taxes are the single most effective intervention to curb smoking, as shown in studies from around the world. When French President Jacques Chirac tripled excise taxes and cigarettes doubled in price, consumption in France was cut in half within 15 years (a record time) and tax revenue from cigarettes doubled. Lung cancer rates in younger men and women are now falling in France…” [Read on…]