Tobacco.org

• RP loses P148 B a year to smoking-related diseases, deaths 

The health and social cost of smoking is six times more than government revenues from cigarettes

The government's failure to impose higher taxes on tobacco products in the past four years has widened the gap between government earnings and the cost, borne by citizens, of treating diseases and of losing productivity due to premature deaths linked to smoking.

Government data showed that from 2000 to 2002, government excise tax from tobacco products averaged P18.92 billion a year. In those years, smoking's health and economic cost to the population was at P46 billion a year, according to estimates made by epidemiologist Dr. Antonio Dans of the University of the Philippines. It was more than double the amount of tobacco excise taxes collected.

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