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Cigarette taxes are often touted by public policy officials as an effective way to get smokers to quit and keep new smoker from starting. While high taxes may affect low-income smokers, they do not apparently deter wealthier smokers or smokers between certain ages, a new Canadian study has found.

Earlier studies have found taxing cigarettes is a generally effective policy to reduce smoking--but not in all groups. While younger smokers tend to respond to higher taxes, heavy smokers, for example, do not.

When researchers at Concordia University in Montreal looked at data from a large Canadian health survey, their general conclusions back up earlier findings. If taxes increase by 10 percent, smoking participation generally falls by about 2.3 percent, the researchers say.

But when they parsed out the data by certain demographic groups, they found some responded less to higher taxes. Canadian smokers between the ages of 25 and 44 did not respond as well as younger or older smokers. Neither did wealthier smokers.

The new study also found that:

• Low and middle income smokers are more responsive to taxes.
• Individuals who reported themselves to be in better health are more responsive than less healthy smokers.
• Men are more responsive to cigarette taxes than women.
• People with less education are more tax sensitive.

The study suggests that policy makers target groups who aren't responsive to taxes differently.

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