Cigarette Taxes in Illinois

Tax News

ALERT:Right now, politicians in Illinois want to increase the cigarette tax by up to 90¢ per pack (Senate Bill 2545). Now is the time to take action. Contact your elected officials today and make your voice heard:

Call your state representatives: 1.877.978.9991 (toll-free)
Email your state representatives

Tax Facts

The excise tax on one pack of cigarettes in Illinois is currently $0.98.

Take a closer look at the cigarette tax dollars being collected in Illinois in FY2007.

	Excise Taxes	Sales Taxes	Tobacco Settlement Payments	Total Smoker Payments FY2007
State: Local:	$611,785,000 $221,700,000	$169,164,000 $53,590,000	$280,300,000	$1,336,539,000

Total tobacco settlement payments to Illinois to date (1998-2007): $2,392,500,000

Economic and Tax Profile of Illinois Smokers

The impact of smoker payments on the incomes of working families was disproportionately greater — more than THREE TIMES higher — than the impact on the minority of smokers who have higher incomes.

Illinois smokers' median household income: $38,080
Illinois non-smokers' median household income: $51,766
32.5% of Illinois smokers had household incomes LESS THAN $25,000
Only 20.7% of Illinois smokers had household incomes EQUAL TO or GREATER THAN $75,000

Average Tobacco Taxes and Payments

Tax and settlement payment liability paid only by smokers in FY2007 were:

Total average paid per Illinois smoker in excise and sales taxes:	$554
Cost per Illinois smoker for settlement payments to Illinois:	$147
Total annual payments to Illinois per smoker:	$701

Smoker Payment Comparisons

Payments by Illinois smokers in FY2007 were:

Nearly nine times larger than the estimated FY2007 liquor gallonage taxes ($153 million)
Nearly seven times larger than FY2007 estimated corporate franchise taxes and fees ($196 million)
More than five times as large as estimated FY2007 inheritance tax collections ($255 million)
Larger than Illinois’ estimated FY2007 riverboat gaming taxes ($792 million)

Illinois smoker payments of OVER $1.3 BILLION were large enough to support FY2007 funding for:

Illinois Department of Corrections ($1.216 billion)
OR
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services ($1.326 billion)
OR
Illinois Department on Aging ($509.7 million) AND Southern Illinois University ($701.6 million)