Standardised packaging, minimum excise tax, and RYO focussed tax rise implications for UK tobacco pricing.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Standardised packaging for factory made (FM) and roll your own (RYO) tobacco was fully implemented in the UK in May 2017. Around the same time, several changes to the tax system were applied (a Minimum Excise Tax (MET) for FM products and tax increases weighted towards RYO products). The tobacco industry claims that standardised packaging will lower prices (a disincentive for quitting) by commoditising the product, yet had itself taken advantage of the previous tax regime to achieve large profits from premium brands while also keeping some products' prices relatively low. Here we evaluate the impact of standardised packaging, the MET and the RYO focussed tax changes on price and industry profitability. METHODS AND FINDINGS:Nielsen electronic point of sale (EPOS) data (May 2015 t

SUBMITTER: Hiscock R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7017998 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature