The rewards, risks and challenges of regional tobacco tax harmonisation

Combining international relations theory and a technical discussion of tobacco taxation, we examine prospects for regional tobacco tax harmonization and how it might heighten the positive effects of taxation for public health. The specific rewards of harmonized tobacco taxation that follow "best practices" might reasonably include increased tax revenue, higher prices for tobacco products and related decreases in tobacco consumption and/or smoking prevalence. Harmonization, however, is often politically and technically challenging as each region has political and economic idiosyncrasies that create multiple, and often conflicting constraints on tax harmonization. For example, governments must overcome different types of collective action problems to agree politically on harmonized policy. Though there is no "one size fits all" approach, we find that setting appropriate and realistic goals and developing reasonable expectations are important for success.