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Philippine Tobacco Taxes

In: Business and Management

Submitted By ocacabrera
Words 1340
Pages 6
Philippine Tobacco Taxes
Summary

It is globally known that the Philippines is one of the most significant largest consumers of tobacco in the Western Pacific Region of the world. The high demand of tobacco use has constantly increased for many years and significant numbers of Filipino youth are smokers. In effect to the high levels of tobacco use, the Philippines had considerably facing adverse health issues and economic consequences from tobacco. With the current low tobacco product taxes and prices in the Philippines, significant increases in tobacco taxes will recline tobacco use and its harmful effects on health and economic consequences while directly generating new revenues.

Tobacco Use and Its Consequences
According to recent statistics, 30% of most adult Filipinos use some form of tobacco product, with 27.9% smoking manufactured cigarettes and 22.5% recorded daily smoking. Predominantly men smokes and about one in ten women are also tobacco users. The current population estimates, roughly 19 million adults consume tobacco in the Philippines. The socio-economic gradients in smoking prevalence are strong in the Philippines, coming from the lower socioeconomic sector two or more times as likely to smoke as those in higher socioeconomic sector. Tobacco use among the youth sector is a significant problem in the Philippines with 22.7% of 13 to 15 year olds in 2007 reporting using some tobacco product, and 17.5% reporting cigarette smoking. Tobacco use among girls has been increasing, raising concerns about significantly increased prevalence among women in future years. Most Filipino youth are regularly exposed to tobacco smoke at their own homes (54.5%) or in public areas (64.5%). About 87,600 deaths in the Philippines each year were attributable to tobacco use. As in other countries, the majority of these deaths result from lung and other smoking

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