Tobacco Use: Interventions to Increase the Unit Price for Tobacco Products

The Community Preventive Services Task Force recommends interventions that increase the unit price of tobacco products to reduce tobacco use. Increasing the price of tobacco products reduces the total amount of tobacco consumed; reduces the prevalence of tobacco use; increases the number of tobacco users who quit; reduces initiation of tobacco use among young people; and reduces tobacco-related morbidity and mortality. Interventions include public policies at the federal, state, or local level that increase the purchase price per unit of sale. The most common policy approach is legislation to increase the excise tax on tobacco products, though legislative actions and regulatory decisions may also be used to levy fees on tobacco products at the point of sale.