About 13.7 million Chinese smokers would probably quit if tobacco taxes were higher, according to a report from the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control (CATC).

The CATC study, reported in Tuesday's edition of the Beijing News, suggested increasing the tax rate by about 11 percentage points, to 51 percent of the retail price.

Internationally, the average cigarette tax rate was 65-70 percent of the retail price, according to the report, "The Tobacco Tax and its Potential Impact on China."

The move would help save 3.4 million lives, the report added.

Higher taxes would also mean the government could collect about 64.9 billion yuan (about US$9.5 billion) more, it said.

The report was jointly produced by experts from China's State Administration of Taxation and the University of California, Berkeley.

About 350 million people smoke in China, or almost 36 percent of the population aged above 15, and about one million die of smoking-related ailments annually, the report said.

"Tobacco use has imposed heavy costs on public health and the economy," said Xu Guihua, deputy head of the association. "International experience has proved that raising tobacco taxes and prices is an effective way to reduce tobacco consumption among people, the young especially."

CATC suggested that the tax rate be gradually raised to more than 60 percent of the retail cigarette price.

(Xinhua News Agency December 17, 2008)