IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/snbeco/v1y2021i10d10.1007_s43546-021-00141-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of tobacco tax reforms on poverty in Mexico

Author

Listed:
  • Luis Huesca

    (Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, CIAD)

  • Abdelkrim Araar

    (Université Laval)

  • Linda Llamas

    (Universidad Estatal de Sonora, UES)

  • Guy Lacroix

    (Université Laval)

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of increasing the tobacco taxes on the poverty rate in Mexico. Unlike most LMIC countries, the prevalence of smoking in Mexico is higher among the well-off than among the poor. Yet, tobacco tax rates in Mexico are lower than those in most LMIC countries. There is room, thus, to implement tax reforms and compensating policies to mitigate their impact on the poor. Our analysis is based on the stochastic dominance approach. More precisely, several tax reforms are analyzed through the so-called Consumption Dominance curves. In addition, the reforms are assumed to be revenue neutral and to give rise to compensating subsidies on specific goods. Our results show that if the Mexican government were to implement a WHO-type reform, poverty among households with at least one smoking member would increase by 2.6 % points. Yet, the deleterious effects are entirely mitigated by price subsidies on staple foods.

Suggested Citation

  • Luis Huesca & Abdelkrim Araar & Linda Llamas & Guy Lacroix, 2021. "The impact of tobacco tax reforms on poverty in Mexico," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(10), pages 1-18, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:snbeco:v:1:y:2021:i:10:d:10.1007_s43546-021-00141-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s43546-021-00141-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s43546-021-00141-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s43546-021-00141-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. World Health Organization, 2019. "WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic 2019: Offer help to quit tobacco use," University of California at San Francisco, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education qt1g16k8b9, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, UC San Francisco.
    2. Foster, James & Greer, Joel & Thorbecke, Erik, 1984. "A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 761-766, May.
    3. Mayshar, Joram & Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 1995. "Dalton-Improving Indirect Tax Reform," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(4), pages 793-807, September.
    4. Jean-Yves Duclos & Paul Makdissi & Abdelkrim Araar, 2014. "Pro-poor indirect tax reforms, with an application to Mexico," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 21(1), pages 87-118, February.
    5. Jean-Yves Duclos & Paul Makdissi & Quentin Wodon, 2008. "Socially Improving Tax Reforms," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1505-1537, November.
    6. Yitzhaki, Shlomo & Thirsk, Wayne, 1990. "Welfare dominance and the design of excise taxation in the Cote d'ivoire," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 1-18, July.
    7. World Health Organization, 2015. "WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, 2015: Raising taxes on tobacco," University of California at San Francisco, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education qt1fh1f32m, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, UC San Francisco.
    8. WHO World Health Organization, 2013. "Who Report On The Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2013," University of California at San Francisco, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education qt5t06910t, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, UC San Francisco.
    9. Muhammad Jami Husain & Biplab Kumar Datta & Mandeep K Virk-Baker & Mark Parascandola & Bazlul Haque Khondker, 2018. "The crowding-out effect of tobacco expenditure on household spending patterns in Bangladesh," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(10), pages 1-15, October.
    10. Christian Schluter & Jackline Wahba, 2010. "Are parents altruistic? Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(3), pages 1025-1046, June.
    11. Makdissi, Paul & Wodon, Quentin, 2002. "Consumption dominance curves: testing for the impact of indirect tax reforms on poverty," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 227-235, April.
    12. Who, 2011. "WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2011: Warning about the dangers of tobacco," University of California at San Francisco, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education qt5np8p434, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, UC San Francisco.
    13. Mayshar, Joram & Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 1996. "Dalton-improving tax reform: When households differ in ability and needs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(3), pages 399-412, November.
    14. Fuchs Tarlovsky,Alan & Meneses,Francisco Jalles, 2017. "Are tobacco taxes really regressive ? evidence from Chile," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7988, The World Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jean-Yves Duclos & Paul Makdissi & Abdelkrim Araar, 2009. "Pro-Poor Tax reforms, with an Application to Mexico," Working Papers 0907E, University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
    2. Alessandro Santoro, 2007. "Marginal Commodity Tax Reforms: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 827-848, September.
    3. Jean-Yves Duclos & Paul Makdissi & Abdelkrim Araar, 2014. "Pro-poor indirect tax reforms, with an application to Mexico," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 21(1), pages 87-118, February.
    4. Garcia-Diaz, Rocio & Sosa-Rub, Sandra G., 2011. "Analysis of the distributional impact of out-of-pocket health payments: Evidence from a public health insurance program for the poor in Mexico," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 707-718, July.
    5. Saikou Amadou Diallo & Paul Makdissi, 2008. "Est-ce que les subsides d'électricité diminuent la pauvreté en Guinée ?," Working Papers 0811E, University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
    6. Jean-Yves Duclos & Paul Makdissi & Quentin Wodon, 2008. "Socially Improving Tax Reforms," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1505-1537, November.
    7. Jean‐Yves Duclos & Paul Makdissi & Quentin Wodon, 2005. "Poverty‐Reducing Tax Reforms with Heterogeneous Agents," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 7(1), pages 107-116, February.
    8. David Madden, 2015. "The Poverty Effects Of A ‘Fat‐Tax’ In Ireland," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(1), pages 104-121, January.
    9. MAKDISSI Paul & MUSSARD Stéphane, 2006. "Between-Group Transfers and Poverty-Reducing Tax Reforms," IRISS Working Paper Series 2006-10, IRISS at CEPS/INSTEAD.
    10. Harsman Tandilittin, 2016. "What should the Government do to Stop Epidemic of Smoking among Teenagers in Indonesia?," Asian Culture and History, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(1), pages 140-140, March.
    11. Paul Makdissi & Stéphane Mussard, 2008. "Analyzing the impact of indirect tax reforms on rank-dependent social welfare functions: a positional dominance approach," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 30(3), pages 385-399, April.
    12. Paul MAKDISSI & Quentin WODON, 2003. "Robust Poverty Comparisons and Marginal Policy Reform Orderings Under Income Variability," Cahiers de recherche 03-05, Departement d'économique de l'École de gestion à l'Université de Sherbrooke.
    13. Duclos, Jean-Yves & Makdissi, Paul & Wodon, Quentin, 2005. "Poverty-dominant program reforms: the role of targeting and allocation rules," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 53-73, June.
    14. Araar, Abdelkrim & Dissou, Yazid & Duclos, Jean-Yves, 2011. "Household incidence of pollution control policies: A robust welfare analysis using general equilibrium effects," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 227-243, March.
    15. Sean Higgins & Nora Lustig, 2015. "Can Poverty-Reducing and Progressive Tax and Transfer System Hurt the Poor?," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 1333, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    16. John Cockburn & Hélène Maisonnave & Véronique Robichaud & Luca Tiberti, 2016. "Fiscal Space and Public Spending on Children in Burkina Faso1 [Burkina Faso. Classification-JEL: I32, D58, C50, O55]," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 9(1), pages 5-23.
    17. Heshmati, Almas, 2004. "Data Issues and Databases Used in Analysis of Growth, Poverty and Economic Inequality," IZA Discussion Papers 1263, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Joshua M. Pearce, 2019. "Towards Quantifiable Metrics Warranting Industry-Wide Corporate Death Penalties," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-13, February.
    19. Higgins, Sean & Lustig, Nora, 2016. "Can a poverty-reducing and progressive tax and transfer system hurt the poor?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 63-75.
    20. Duclos, Jean-Yves & Makdissi, Paul & Wodon, Quentin, 2002. "Socially-Efficient Tax Reforms," Cahiers de recherche 0201, Université Laval - Département d'économique.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tobacco taxation; Impact analysis; Excise taxes; Poverty; Stochastic dominance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:snbeco:v:1:y:2021:i:10:d:10.1007_s43546-021-00141-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.