RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Association between tax structure and cigarette consumption: findings from the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation (ITC) Project JF Tobacco Control JO Tob Control FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd SP s31 OP s36 DO 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2017-054160 VO 28 IS Suppl 1 A1 Ce Shang A1 Hye Myung Lee A1 Frank J Chaloupka A1 Geoffrey T Fong A1 Mary Thompson A1 Richard J O’Connor YR 2019 UL http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/28/Suppl_1/s31.abstract AB Background Recent studies show that greater price variability and more opportunities for tax avoidance are associated with tax structures that depart from a specific uniform one. These findings indicate that tax structures other than a specific uniform one may lead to more cigarette consumption.Objective This paper aims to examine how cigarette tax structure is associated with cigarette consumption.Methods We used survey data taken from the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project in 17 countries to conduct the analysis. Self-reported cigarette consumption was aggregated to average measures for each surveyed country and wave. The effect of tax structures on cigarette consumption was estimated using generalised estimating equations after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, average taxes and year fixed effects.Findings Our study provides important empirical evidence of a relationship between tax structure and cigarette consumption. We find that a change from a specific to an ad valorem structure is associated with a 6%–11% higher cigarette consumption. In addition, a change from uniform to tiered structure is associated with a 34%–65% higher cigarette consumption. The results are consistent with existing evidence and suggest that a uniform and specific tax structure is the most effective tax structure for reducing tobacco consumption.