[Government earnings from cigarette smoking of adolescents in Austria].

UNLABELLED

Smoking prevalence in minors has increased considerably since 1986. In comparison to other European countries, smoking rates in 15-year-old students are the highest in Austria. Goal of our study was the estimation of government earnings from tobacco consumption of minors in Austria.

METHODS

Tobacco tax paid by adolescents aged 11 to 17 years was estimated from smoking prevalences and taxation of cigarettes.

RESULTS

In 2006 state revenues from cigarette consumption of minors in Austria amounted to 60.5 million Euro.

DISCUSSION

Up to now the fight against business interest of the tobacco industry in Austria has been mainly left to volunteers. Therefore we suggest the funding a professional agency, independent from state budget and interest groups, by a tobacco prevention fund which is financed by the revenues from cigarettes smoked by youth. The mission of this fund should be to lower smoking incidence and smoking prevalence among minors. The WHO framework convention on tobacco control, ratified by Austria in 2005, should be considered in the next amendments of the tobacco law. The efforts of the European Union to reduce tobacco consumption should be supported also by Austria. For this purpose the tobacco prevention fund - similar to the regulation in Switzerland - would give the financial background.