Opportunities to maximize the effectiveness of food and tobacco tax to help address Samoa NCD crisis
Samoa is one of the first countries in the Pacific to introduce taxation measures to address Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs). The predicted probability of dying from NCDs between the ages of 30 and 70 years is more than double in Samoa compared to...
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
Washington, DC
2022
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099455108172230367/P15377802f248606409e230b48bda60b256 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37904 |
| Summary: | Samoa is one of the first countries
in the Pacific to introduce taxation measures to address
Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs). The predicted probability
of dying from NCDs between the ages of 30 and 70 years is
more than double in Samoa compared to high-income nations in
the Pacific region. Over several years, the Government of
Samoa has imposed excise taxes on several products including
cigarettes, alcohol, and sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs).
There are plans to expand excise taxes to unhealthy products
in 2023. This includes raising excise taxes on tobacco and
SSBs and introducing import duty and/or excise taxes on
imported high fat cuts of lamb, syrups, confectionery,
biscuits, ice cream, and french fries. Simultaneously, there
are plans to reduce and/or waive import duty on selected
vegetables, fresh chicken, and bottled water. Therefore, in
2020, a nationally representative survey was conducted to
generate baseline data to inform future tax measures. |
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