Research by IGPA's David Merriman featured in Chicago Tribune report

Research by IGPA economist David Merriman, who also is head of the Department of Economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was featured by the Chicago Tribune in a report about cigarette taxes.

An excerpt from the story:

In 2006, city revenues from cigarette taxes came in at a little less than $32 million. By 2008, they had declined to about $25 million. This year, they're projected to drop again.

"In most places, tax increases lead to increased revenues," said David Merriman, a University of Illinois at Chicago economist who has studied cigarette-tax avoidance worldwide for 15 years. "Chicago would be the only place I know of where it's gone the other way."

Read the entire story at the Tribune's website.