The Impact of Innovative Tax Proposals on Purchase Patterns

Summary

This study will investigate the effect of four tax proposals (i.e. Tobacco Parity, Nicotine-Content, Harm-Reduction, and Modified Risk Tobacco Product-related taxes) on tobacco product purchasing patterns.

Conditions

• Cigarette Smoking

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Market Price Condition (control)

Nicotine/tobacco products available in the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace at market price. Cigarette taxes increased across trials at the same magnitudes used in the tax conditions.

BEHAVIORAL

Tobacco Parity Tax Condition

Tobacco products in the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace are placed into three tax tiers: high-, medium-, and no-tax. In this condition, all tobacco products are placed in the high-tax tier while products that do not contain tobacco (e.g., herbal cigarettes and nicotine-free ENDS) are placed in the medium-tax tier. Nicotine Replacement Therapy products are placed in the no-tax tier.

BEHAVIORAL

Nicotine-Content Tax Condition

Tobacco products in the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace are placed into three tax tiers: high-, medium-, and no-tax. In this condition, products with greater than 3 mg nicotine per single unit are placed in the high-tax tier, products with 0.6-3.0 mg/unit in the medium-tax tier, and those with 0.5 mg/unit or less in the no-tax tier.

BEHAVIORAL

Harm-Reduction Tax Condition

Tobacco products in the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace are placed into three tax tiers: high-, medium-, and no-tax. In this condition, all combustible products with high abuse liability are placed in the high-tax tier. All non-combustible products or combustible products with low abuse liability are placed in the medium-tax tier. Nicotine Replacement Therapy products are placed in the no-tax tier.

BEHAVIORAL

Modified Risk Tobacco Product (MRTP) Tax Condition

Tobacco products in the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace are placed into three tax tiers: high-, medium-, and no-tax. In this condition, all non-MRTP tobacco products are placed in the high-tax tier, MRTPs are placed in the medium-tax tier, and Nicotine Replacement Therapy products are placed in the no-tax tier.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Roswell Park Cancer Institute

  collaborator OTHER

• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Jeff S Stein, Ph.D. · Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC

• Christine E Sheffer, Ph.D. · Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

21 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-04-11

Primary Completion

2025-05-27

Completion

2025-06-10

Countries

• United States

Study Locations