Healthy City Research Center, Institute of Health and Welfare, Yonsei University, Wonju and Institutefor Poverty Alleviation and International Development, Republic of Korea.
Health Promot Int. 2011 Dec;26(4):457-64. doi: 10.1093/heapro/dar011. Epub 2011 Mar 1.
Wonju is the first municipality in the Republic of Korea to fund the Healthy City project through municipal revenues from the local tobacco consumption tax. We investigated the process of the local tobacco consumption tax being approved as the main source of financing for the local Healthy City project. We also examined the sustainability and sufficiency of the funding by looking at the pricing policies instituted for cigarettes, smoking prevalence, cigarette consumption and revenues from local tobacco consumption as well as the budgetary allocations among programs in the city. The strong initiative of the mayor of Wonju was one of the factors that enabled the earmarking of the local tobacco consumption tax for the Healthy City Wonju project. He consulted academic counselors and persuaded the municipal government and the City Council to approve the bill. Despite the increasing price of cigarettes in Korea, adequate funding can be sustained to cover the short-term and mid-term programs in Wonju for at least 5 years of the mayor's term, because the smoking rate is persistently high. Analyzing the effects of strong leadership on the part of local authorities and the balance between revenues from the tobacco tax and the prevalence of smoking in the face of anti-smoking policies would be helpful for other countries and communities interested in developing sustainable Healthy Cities projects.
原州是韩国第一个通过地方烟草消费税为健康城市项目提供资金的直辖市。我们调查了地方烟草消费税被批准为当地健康城市项目主要资金来源的过程。我们还通过观察香烟定价政策、吸烟率、香烟消费和地方烟草消费税收入以及城市项目之间的预算分配，研究了资金的可持续性和充足性。原州市长的积极倡议是将地方烟草消费税指定用于健康城市原州项目的因素之一。他咨询了学术顾问，并说服市政府和市议会批准该法案。尽管韩国的香烟价格不断上涨，但在市长任期内，至少可以维持 5 年的短期和中期项目的充足资金，因为吸烟率一直居高不下。分析地方当局强有力的领导作用和烟草税收入与反吸烟政策下吸烟率之间的平衡，对于其他有兴趣开发可持续健康城市项目的国家和社区将有所帮助。
