RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Health Considerations in Regulation and Taxation of Electronic Cigarettes
JF The Journal of the American Board of Family
                Medicine
JO J Am Board Fam Med
FD American Board of Family Medicine
SP 802
OP 806
DO 10.3122/jabfm.2015.06.150114
VO 28
IS 6
A1 Arch G. Mainous III
A1 Rebecca J. Tanner
A1 Ryan W. Mainous
A1 Jeffery Talbert
YR 2015
UL http://www.jabfm.org/content/28/6/802.abstract
AB The use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) is experiencing unprecedented growth. This can be contrasted to the use of conventional cigarettes which showed a decrease among adults with the current smoker prevalence dropping from 20.9% in 2005 to 17.8% in 2013. There is some data that e-cigarettes are attracting both former smokers and never smokers, and in particular, young people as users. Currently most states do not tax e-cigarettes. Taxation and regulation may have a similar overall goal of decreasing smoking but regulation tends to focus reduced availability of products. In terms of tobacco control, taxation focuses on the demand side of the equation. Taxation is a distinct strategy from regulation and has been shown to decrease new adopters of conventional cigarettes. A variety of potential taxation strategies can be considered by policymakers based on different assumptions about e-cigarettes and their utility, ranging from untaxed to taxation at moderate levels compared to conventional cigarettes to taxation equal to conventional cigarettes. Until more evidence for the benefits of e-cigarettes is presented, it seems prudent to view them as a potentially harmful and addictive product that ought to be regulated and taxed in an equivalent manner to conventional cigarettes.