Higher price, fewer packs: evaluating a tobacco tax increase with cigarette sales data.

In 2013, Minnesota increased cigarette taxes by $1.75, the largest US state increase since 2000. We obtained convenience store data of cigarette sales from January 2012 to December 2013 from the Nielsen Company. Analysis revealed significantly greater year-to-year reductions in numbers of packs purchased during posttax (-12.1%) than pretax (-3.2%; P<.001) periods. The results provide contemporary evidence that, despite reduced prevalence and increased tobacco control efforts, tax increases remain an effective tobacco control strategy.