The Black Market's Price: Tobacco Taxes in Crisis Dr.
Nick Coatsworth, Australia's former deputy chief medical officer, is advocating for a reduction in tobacco taxes as part of a broader overhaul of the country's tobacco control policy.
This proposal may seem counterintuitive given the rise of organized crime in the illicit tobacco trade, but it highlights a stark reality: decades of steep excise increases have failed to curb smoking and instead driven smokers into the black market.