Replication data for: Playing with Fire: Cigarettes, Taxes, and Competition from the Internet

This paper documents the rise of the Internet as a source of state tax-free cigarettes and its impact on taxed sales elasticities. Using data on cigarette tax rates, taxable cigarette sales and individual smoking rates by state from 1980 to 2005 merged with data on Internet penetration, this paper documents that there has been a substantial increase in the sensitivity of taxable cigarette sales to state tax rates that is correlated with the rise of Internet usage within states. The estimates imply that the increased sensitivity from cigarette smuggling over the Internet has lessened the revenue generating potential of cigarette tax increases significantly, although states are still far from the revenue-maximizing tax rates. (JEL D12, H25, H31, H71, L66)

本文阐述了互联网作为州级免税卷烟采购渠道的兴起及其对卷烟应税销售弹性的影响。本文整合1980年至2005年间各州卷烟税率、应税卷烟销量及个体吸烟率数据，并结合互联网普及率数据开展实证分析，研究发现：各州应税卷烟销量对州税率的敏感性显著提升，且该现象与各州互联网使用普及率的增长高度相关。估算结果表明，因互联网卷烟走私而增强的需求敏感性，大幅削弱了卷烟增税的创收潜力，尽管当前各州仍远未达到实现税收收入最大化的最优税率水平。（JEL D12, H25, H31, H71, L66）