MOHLTC - Health Update - Fact Sheet - Costs of Tobacco Use and Tax Revenues - Tobacco Control Statute Law Amendment Act, 2005

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Health Update

Costs of Tobacco Use and Tax Revenues

Tobacco Control Statute Law Amendment Act, 2005

Costs of tobacco use in Ontario

Tobacco-related diseases cost the Ontario economy:

at least $1.7 billion in healthcare annually ¹;
result in more than $2.6 billion in productivity losses ²; and
account for at least 500,000 hospital days each year ³.

Ontario is being conservative in its estimates of the health care costs of tobacco use. According to a World Bank report1, in developed countries, the overall annual cost of health care that may be attributed to smoking is estimated to be between six per cent and 15 per cent of total health care costs. For Ontario, this would mean that the estimate of health care costs attributable to smoking could be as high as $5 billion.

Revenue from tobacco taxes in Ontario

Tobacco taxes generated $1.452 billion in the 2004-2005 fiscal year and $1.35 billion in the 2003-2004 fiscal year.

References

Jha, P. & Chaloupka, F.J. Curbing the epidemic: Governments and the economics of tobacco control. Washington, DC: The World Bank, 1999.
Investing in Tobacco Control: Good Health Policy, Good Fiscal Policy. Toronto, ON: Ontario Medical Association, 2003.
Xie, X, Rehm, J., Single, E., Robson. The Economic Costs of Alcohol, Tobacco and Illicit Drug Use in Ontario: 1992, Toronto: Addiction Research Foundation, 1996.



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