Tax Facts - History
Cigarettes are one of the most heavily taxed consumer products in the United States.
Federal, state and local governments collect more money from the sale of cigarettes than retailers, wholesalers, farmers and manufacturers combined.
In FY2009, alone, between federal tax, state and local taxes, and tobacco settlement payments, the government raked in more than $38 BILLION:
- $8.5 billion in federal excise taxes
- $20.3 billion in state excise taxes
- $8.8 billion is state settlement payments
Since FY1997, the weighted state average tax has gone up 197.5% — from 32.1¢ to 95.3¢ as of January 2008.
From 1997-2010, there have been 121 state excise tax increases as well as the District of Columbia.
Total state excise tax revenues have risen 115%, from $7.3 billion in FY1997, to $15.7 billion in FY2009.
Cigarette Retail and Taxes
- As of March 2010, the average retail price of a package of 20 cigarettes (full-priced brands), was $5.27, up from 4.53 in 2007, including federal, state and municipal excise taxes.
- Payments to the government, on average, for 55 percent of the retail price of cigarettes.
- Around 64% of all tobacco sales occur in the nation’s 145,119 convenience stores, according to a National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) study.
- The average convenience store sells about $438,000 worth of cigarette each year. In addition, cigarette sales are the number one in-store item for these stores, comprising about 36% of merchandise sales.
For detailed research on the continued rise of both federal and state tobacco taxes, download the 2010 Tax Burden on Tobacco (PDF) produced by Orzechowski and Walker.
After years of huge tax increases, enough is enough.
Act Now. Don't let Government raise cigarette taxes yet again.
