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College Matters grantees help students and their families access college financial aid

Indy schools and community organizations come together to help students file the FAFSA and apply to college.

Blowing Smoke: Does Tax Evasion via Cross-Border Sales Erode the Impact of Cigarette Taxes?

Alex Cohen is the Director of Learning and Evaluation for the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. Smokers, like all people, respond to incentives. One powerful incentive is price. When something becomes more expensive, people are less likely to consume that item. This fact is borne out in the extensive literature on the impact of cigarette taxes on smoking: As prices rise through taxes, fewer people smoke. This happens by keeping non-smokers, including youth, from starting in the first place and by encouraging current smokers to quit. But do increases in cigarette taxes in one state incentivize smokers (or tobacco retailers and wholesalers) to cross the border into neighboring states where cigarettes […]