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Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
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New Study: El Paso Smoking Ban Did Not Cause Bar and Restaurant Revenue Declines [02/27-4]
Excerpts from: Impact of a Smoking Ban on Restaurant and Bar Revenues --- El Paso, Texas, 2002
By: P Huang, MD, Texas Dept of Health. AK De, PhD, Div of Applied Public Health Training, Epidemiology Program Office; ME McCusker, MD, EIS Officer, CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report [02/26/04]
No decline in total restaurant or bar revenues occurred in El Paso, Texas, after the city's smoking ban was implemented on January 2, 2002. These findings are consistent with the results of studies in other municipalities that determined smoke-free indoor air ordinances had no effect on restaurant revenues ( 2, --8 ). Despite claims that these laws especially might reduce alcoholic beverage revenues ( 2 ), the mixed-beverage revenue analyses indicate that sales of alcoholic beverages were not affected by the El Paso smoking ban.
The findings in this report are subject to at least three limitations. First, because sales tax reports lag revenue collection by 6 months, sales tax data were available for only 1 year after the El Paso smoking ban was implemented. However, analyses from other cities that included data for several years after a smoking ban was enacted indicated no declines in restaurant or bar revenues ( 6--8 ). Revenue data from El Paso will be monitored for any changes in restaurant and bar revenues. Second, because limited revenue data for El Paso were available, methods that might provide better estimates of the impact of the ban could not be used. Regression models measuring changes in slope for revenues before and after implementation of smoke-free indoor air ordinances might provide better estimates of how these ordinances affect revenues ( 8 ); time-series models also might produce better estimates. When more information becomes available, these models should be applied to the El Paso data. Finally, because the SIC code--based restaurant and bar categories are not mutually exclusive, certain bars were included in the restaurant category created for this analysis. However, mixed-beverage tax data, which provide a more precise measure of alcohol-related revenue, support the finding that bar revenues were not affected by the smoking ban.
Opponents of smoke-free indoor air ordinances have claimed that enacting smoke-free indoor air ordinances will harm restaurant and bar revenues ( 2 ). However, the findings in this report indicate that, in El Paso, Texas, restaurant and bar revenues were not affected by the smoking ban. Such analyses of economic data can provide local policymakers with statistical evidence to evaluate the merit of implementing smoke-free indoor air ordinances in their communities.
Click Here to View this Entire Study from the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
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