Michelle Leverett, Marice Ashe, Susan Gerard, Jim Jenson, and Trevor Woollery

Increasing cigarette taxes encourages current smokers to quit and reduces the number of people—particularly teens— who start the habit, the authors maintain in the following viewpoint. They argue that a 10 percent price increase reduces cigarette consumption by children and teens by as much as 8 percent. Michelle Leverett is director and health officer for the Baltimore County Health Department; Marice Ashe is director of the Public Health Institute of Oakland, California; Susan Gerard is a member of the Arizona senate; Jim Jenson is a member of the Nebraska legislature; and Trevor Woollery is an economist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to the authors, what measures—in addition to tax increases...