JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Cigarette excise tax changes ultimately influence the health of smokers and potential smokers. An 8-cent decrease in the federal tax is estimated to induce up to 1 million young persons, ages 12 to 25 years, to smoke, when without the tax decrease they would not. ⋯ Thus, a tax increase could prevent hundreds of thousands of premature smoking-related deaths, while a tax decrease would contribute to the disease burden of tobacco. Intentionally or inadvertently, the federal cigarette excise tax is a powerful tool of public health policy.