The Political Economy of the 2016 Tobacco and Proposed Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Increases in Colombia

In 2008, Colombia joined the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which includes measures related to price and taxes designed to reduce supply and demand. By 2015, the overall prevalence of smokers in the country had decreased slightly but still reached 17 percent. The impact of tobacco o...

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Main Authors:	Garcia, Maria Isabel, Villar Uribe, Manuela, Iunes, Roberto
Format:	Report
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2017
Subjects:	SMUGGLING SIN TAX DEATH TAX TOBACCO CONTROL BEVERAGES SUGAR CONSUMPTION
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/157441507059518543/The-political-economy-of-the-2016-tobacco-and-proposed-sugar-sweetened-beverage-tax-increases-in-Colombia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28569

id	okr-10986-28569
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-285692021-05-25T09:04:45Z The Political Economy of the 2016 Tobacco and Proposed Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Increases in Colombia Garcia, Maria Isabel Villar Uribe, Manuela Iunes, Roberto SMUGGLING SIN TAX DEATH TAX TOBACCO CONTROL BEVERAGES SUGAR CONSUMPTION In 2008, Colombia joined the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which includes measures related to price and taxes designed to reduce supply and demand. By 2015, the overall prevalence of smokers in the country had decreased slightly but still reached 17 percent. The impact of tobacco on the mortality and quality of life of Colombians was estimated as a direct loss of more than 600,000 years of life and more than 26,000 deaths each year. The price of cigarettes in Colombia in 2015 was so low (approximately 2 US dollars per pack of 20 cigarettes), that it was higher than just one other country in Latin America and in the Caribbean. At the time, Colombia was contending with shrinking oil revenue (owing to a sharp drop in oil prices) and constantly rising public expenditure. In the health sector cost pressures stemmed, among other factors, from a change in the government's responsibility for health coverage in the subsidized system that covers the cost of health services for the country's lowest population segments. It was in this context that the government in early 2015 created a committee of experts responsible for proposing changes in the country's tax structure. This document describes the course of events that led to the phased adjustment of the tobacco tax approved by Congress in December 2016, with a view to aligning the price of cigarettes in Colombia with the Latin American average. Despite the failed attempt to introduce a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, the discussion was framed and will most likely be renewed in the future. 2017-10-25T17:11:55Z 2017-10-25T17:11:55Z 2017-09 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/157441507059518543/The-political-economy-of-the-2016-tobacco-and-proposed-sugar-sweetened-beverage-tax-increases-in-Colombia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28569 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work :: Other Public Sector Study Economic & Sector Work Latin America & Caribbean Colombia
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	SMUGGLING SIN TAX DEATH TAX TOBACCO CONTROL BEVERAGES SUGAR CONSUMPTION
spellingShingle	SMUGGLING SIN TAX DEATH TAX TOBACCO CONTROL BEVERAGES SUGAR CONSUMPTION Garcia, Maria Isabel Villar Uribe, Manuela Iunes, Roberto The Political Economy of the 2016 Tobacco and Proposed Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Increases in Colombia
geographic_facet	Latin America & Caribbean Colombia
description	In 2008, Colombia joined the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which includes measures related to price and taxes designed to reduce supply and demand. By 2015, the overall prevalence of smokers in the country had decreased slightly but still reached 17 percent. The impact of tobacco on the mortality and quality of life of Colombians was estimated as a direct loss of more than 600,000 years of life and more than 26,000 deaths each year. The price of cigarettes in Colombia in 2015 was so low (approximately 2 US dollars per pack of 20 cigarettes), that it was higher than just one other country in Latin America and in the Caribbean. At the time, Colombia was contending with shrinking oil revenue (owing to a sharp drop in oil prices) and constantly rising public expenditure. In the health sector cost pressures stemmed, among other factors, from a change in the government's responsibility for health coverage in the subsidized system that covers the cost of health services for the country's lowest population segments. It was in this context that the government in early 2015 created a committee of experts responsible for proposing changes in the country's tax structure. This document describes the course of events that led to the phased adjustment of the tobacco tax approved by Congress in December 2016, with a view to aligning the price of cigarettes in Colombia with the Latin American average. Despite the failed attempt to introduce a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, the discussion was framed and will most likely be renewed in the future.
format	Report
author	Garcia, Maria Isabel Villar Uribe, Manuela Iunes, Roberto
author_facet	Garcia, Maria Isabel Villar Uribe, Manuela Iunes, Roberto
author_sort	Garcia, Maria Isabel
title	The Political Economy of the 2016 Tobacco and Proposed Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Increases in Colombia
title_short	The Political Economy of the 2016 Tobacco and Proposed Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Increases in Colombia
title_full	The Political Economy of the 2016 Tobacco and Proposed Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Increases in Colombia
title_fullStr	The Political Economy of the 2016 Tobacco and Proposed Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Increases in Colombia
title_full_unstemmed	The Political Economy of the 2016 Tobacco and Proposed Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Increases in Colombia
title_sort	political economy of the 2016 tobacco and proposed sugar-sweetened beverage tax increases in colombia
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2017
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/157441507059518543/The-political-economy-of-the-2016-tobacco-and-proposed-sugar-sweetened-beverage-tax-increases-in-Colombia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28569
_version_	1764467170693087232

The Political Economy of the 2016 Tobacco and Proposed Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Increases in Colombia

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