Release date: 2014-06-11 Finding American products that sell cheaper in China is theoretically not easy. Most American products have brand and quality advantages, plus freight and tariffs, how can they sell cheaper in China? In fact, finding American products that sell cheaper in China is not difficult at all. cigarette! According to the general introduction of various websites, Marlboro seems to be in each package of 15 yuan, or between 90-200 yuan. The author used to sell more than thirty dollars in a retail store in southern Georgia, and is now roughly $40. Then the price is indeed higher than domestic. If you are in New York City, the price of each package of Marlboro will be a few dollars higher. why is it like this? Cigarette sales in the United States are subject to federal and state cigarette taxes. The federal tax is currently $1.01 per pack. State cigarette taxes range from $0.17 in Missouri to $4.35 in New York, averaging about $1.46. Some cities will also impose a separate tax on cigarettes, such as the New York City will impose a $1 tax on New York State's $4.35. So the price of a pack of cigarettes in New York City includes a tax of $6.36. This adds to the price is naturally expensive. The World Health Organization estimates that the US cigarette tax rate is about 45%, and China's is 41%. European countries are much higher, such as the French cigarette tax is 80%, the United Kingdom is 77%, and Germany is 74%. Thailand, Bangladesh and other developing countries also have about 67%. We are a lot behind. Some readers may say that it is not a good thing to have a low tax rate. What are the benefits of tax increases? Professor Hu Dewei from the University of California at Berkeley and Professor Mao Zhengzhong from Huaxi Medical University have found that increasing the tax on tobacco in one yuan can save more than 3 million lives and create more than 235 billion yuan in government revenue. Professor Hu Dewei and Professor David Levy of Georgetown University recently published a study in the British Medical Journal found that if the Chinese tobacco tax can be raised to 75% of the retail price, the smoking rate can be reduced by 12.9% in 2050. If China can implement all the policies of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the smoking rate can be reduced by 40% by 2050, and 12.8 million deaths from smoking and 154 million lives can be prevented. This is the benefit of raising tobacco taxes. Increasing tobacco taxes is also supported by theoretical analysis of health economics. The externality of smoking (referring to the harm of smoking to non-smokers) is an important reason. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the economic cost (including health costs and lost productivity) for every pack of cigarettes is $10.47. A large part of these health costs and production efficiency losses are borne by economic entities other than smokers. For example, most of the loss of production efficiency is borne by employers, which is why American employers are increasingly supporting smoke-free policies. Part of the health costs are borne by the smoker, and the rest are borne by the employer and the public sector, such as the state and federal governments. The state government's commitment to the health costs of smokers is primarily through the cost of Medicaid. In 1998, 46 states, 5 overseas territories, and the Washington Federal District Government and the five major tobacco companies reached an agreement. The agreement stipulates: 1) Participating tobacco companies are self-disciplined in advertising, such as not targeting tobacco for minors; 2) Within twenty-five years, tobacco companies compensate the participating states and overseas territorial governments for a total of $206 billion; 3) State and overseas territorial governments waive litigation against tobacco companies (note that this agreement is not binding on the federal government). The agreement was reached by tobacco companies' recognition of the impact of smoking on the cost of medical assistance programs. The familiar externality of smoking is the danger of second-hand smoke and even third-hand smoke. Second-hand smoke refers to the inhalation of smoke-laden air by non-smokers. Three-handed cigarettes are tobacco smoke residues that remain on the surface of clothes, walls, carpets, furniture, and even hair and skin after the smokers “swallow the cloudsâ€. Second-hand smoke and third-hand smoke have certain harm to the health of non-active smokers. These hazards support the legitimacy of smoke-free places and taxes on tobacco. Another danger of smoking is fire. The direct cause of the devastating fire in Daxing'anling in 1987 was illegal smoking. The fire caused 211 deaths and economic losses of more than 500 million yuan, and indirect losses amounted to more than 20 billion yuan. Although the probability of such hazards is small, the single damage is large and supports the legitimacy of tobacco control. Increasing tobacco taxes may have a pain in the short term, involving adjustments in interests, but in the long run it is a good thing to improve the health of the whole people. In the United States before the 1950s, male smoking was quite common. At that time, smoking was a symbol of fashion and one of the ways to show masculinity. After half a century of unremitting efforts by the public health community, the smoking rate in the United States has been greatly reduced, and smoking has become a frowning act. I believe that China can learn from its experience, achieve the goal of tobacco control in a shorter time, and remove the title of the largest country of smoking as soon as possible. (The author of this article: Postdoctoral scholar of the Center for Health Promotion Research of the University of Chicago. The main research areas are health economics, analysis of health inequality, and policy and project evaluation. Editor of the founding director of China Health Review, current Journal of Family and Economic Issues "Editor's Committee member.) Source: Sina Finance Hydrochloric Acid Series,Food-Grade Potassium Chloride,Potassium Chloride,High Purity Potassium Chloride LIANYUNGANGLONGTAIWEI FOOD INGREDIENTS CO.,LTD. , https://www.longtaiweifood.com
How can China take off the title of the largest country in smoking and look at the US tobacco control experience?