PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Gera E Nagelhout
AU  - Bas van den Putte
AU  - Shane Allwright
AU  - Ute Mons
AU  - Ann McNeill
AU  - Romain Guignard
AU  - François Beck
AU  - Mohammad Siahpush
AU  - Luk Joossens
AU  - Geoffrey T Fong
AU  - Hein de Vries
AU  - Marc C Willemsen
TI  - Socioeconomic and country variations in cross-border cigarette purchasing as tobacco tax avoidance strategy. Findings from the ITC Europe Surveys
AID  - 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2012-050838
DP  - 2014 Mar 01
TA  - Tobacco Control
PG  - i30--i38
VI  - 23
IP  - suppl 1
4099  - http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/23/suppl_1/i30.short
4100  - http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/23/suppl_1/i30.full
SO  - Tob Control2014 Mar 01; 23
AB  - Background Legal tobacco tax avoidance strategies such as cross-border cigarette purchasing may attenuate the impact of tax increases on tobacco consumption. Little is known about socioeconomic and country variations in cross-border purchasing. Objective To describe socioeconomic and country variations in cross-border cigarette purchasing in six European countries. Methods Cross-sectional data from adult smokers (n=7873) from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Surveys in France (2006/2007), Germany (2007), Ireland (2006), The Netherlands (2008), Scotland (2006) and the rest of the UK (2007/2008) were used. Respondents were asked whether they had bought cigarettes outside their country in the last 6 months and how often. Findings In French and German provinces/states bordering countries with lower cigarette prices, 24% and 13% of smokers, respectively, reported purchasing cigarettes frequently outside their country. In non-border regions of France and Germany, and in Ireland, Scotland, the rest of the UK and The Netherlands, frequent purchasing of cigarettes outside the country was reported by 2–7% of smokers. Smokers with higher levels of education or income, younger smokers, daily smokers, heavier smokers and smokers not planning to quit smoking were more likely to purchase cigarettes outside their country. Conclusions Cross-border cigarette purchasing is more common in European regions bordering countries with lower cigarette prices and is more often reported by smokers with higher education and income. Increasing taxes in countries with lower cigarette prices, and reducing the number of cigarettes that can be legally imported across borders could help to avoid cross-border purchasing.