Cigarette Taxes in New York

Higher Taxes Affect You

ALERT:Right now, some politicians in New York want to increase the cigarette tax by as much as $1.00 per pack. Now is the time to take action. That 36 percent increase would give New York the highest cigarette tax in the nation! Contact your elected officials today and make your voice heard:

• Call your elected officials 1.866.658.8337 1.866.658.8337 (toll-free)
• Email your elected officials

Tax Facts

The excise tax on one pack of cigarettes in New York is currently $2.75.

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

	Excise Taxes	Sales Taxes	Tobacco Settlement Payments	Total Smoker Payments FY2007
State: Local:	$936,457,000 $227,689,500	$136,985,000 $0	$768,600,000	$2,069,731,500

Total tobacco settlement payments to New York to date (1998-2007): $6,552,800,000

Economic and Tax Profile of New York 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.

• New York smokers' median household income: $33,838
• New York non-smokers' median household income: $49,121
• 36.9% of New York smokers had household incomes LESS THAN $25,000
• Only 17.5% of New York 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 New York smoker in excise and sales taxes:	$491
Cost per New York smoker for settlement payments to New York:	$290
Total annual payments to New York per smoker:	$781

Smoker Payment Comparisons

Payments by New York smokers in FY2007 were:

• More than 10.5 times as large as estimated FY2007 state excise taxes on alcoholic beverages ($195.9 million)
• Nearly four times as large as estimated FY2007 motor fuels tax collections ($518.6 million)
• Larger than estimated FY2007 insurance tax revenues ($1.226 billion)

New York smoker payments of OVER $2 BILLION were large enough to support FY2007 funding for:

• The State University of New York, general funds only ($1.603 billion)
  OR
• The Division of State Police ($648 million) AND Economic Development and Government Oversight ($1.248 billion)
  OR
• The City University of New York ($1.331 billion)

Help prevent more state tobacco tax increases.
Call 1.866.658.8337 or email your state representative.