Research Areas
Cigarette Taxes
The nation's first federal cigarette tax was enacted in 1864 as a Civil War revenue measure. In 2005 the federal cigarette tax stood at 37 cents per pack. The nation's first state-level cigarette excise tax was enacted in Iowa in 1921. By 1969 all 50 U.S. states had followed suit. In 2005 state-level cigarette taxes ranged from 7 cents per pack in South Carolina to $2.46 per pack in Rhode Island. The wide variety of state cigarette excise taxes provides opportunities for consumers to shop for bargains across borders—and for smugglers to make substantial profits.
Additional questions about cigarette taxes? Contact William Ahern at (202) 464-5101.
Articles from the Tax Foundation
- Higher cigarette taxes: unhealthy and unfair, by Patrick Fleenor, June 29, 2009
- Jamie Story of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii: Tax Hikes in the Aloha State, June 3, 2009
- The Price of Paradise: Hawaii Becomes Fifth State to Adopt New Income Tax Brackets on High-Earners, by Joseph Henchman and Mark Robyn, May 12, 2009
- Border Zone Cigarette Taxation: Arkansas’s Novel Solution to the Border Shopping Problem, by Mark Robyn, April 9, 2009
- The Effect of the Federal Cigarette Tax Increase on State Revenue, by Patrick Fleenor, April 1, 2009
- State Sales, Gasoline, Cigarette, and Alcohol Tax Rates by State, 2000-2009, January 28, 2009
- Letter to the Oklahoma Tax Commission on Cigarette Taxes, by Joseph Henchman and Mark Robyn, January 27, 2009
- Map: State Cigarette Tax Rates, 2009, January 27, 2009
- Funding S-CHIP with Federal Cigarette Tax Increase is Poor Tax Policy, by Gerald Prante and Joseph Henchman, January 15, 2009
- Phil Kerpen of Americans for Prosperity: SCHIP and Potential Federal Cigarette Tax Hike, January 7, 2009
- Give police a break: Leave the cigarette tax alone, by Patrick Fleenor, December 11, 2008
- Federal Excise Tax Rates, 1944-2008. Selected Years, November 9, 2008
- Cigarette Taxes Are Fueling Organized Crime, by Patrick Fleenor, May 7, 2008
- Beacon Hill's Gift to the Black Market, by Patrick Fleenor, April 26, 2008
- What Is Proper Tax Policy for Smokeless Tobacco Products?, by Gerald Prante, March 26, 2008
- Increasing Federal Cigarette Taxes Will Hurt State Cigarette Tax Revenues: The Case of a Double Mark-Up, by Gerald Prante, August 7, 2007
- State Tobacco Tax Rates Have Skyrocketed Since Last Federal Tax Increase, by Curtis S. Dubay and Gerald Prante, July 13, 2007
- Options for Funding SCHIP Expansion: Cigarette Taxes Least Defensible Alternative, by Gerald Prante, July 13, 2007
- What Is 300 Percent of the Poverty Level?, by Gerald Prante, July 11, 2007
- Cigarette Taxes Choke the Poor, by Gerald Prante, July 7, 2007
- A State-by-State Estimate of the Impact of SCHIP Expansion and a 156 Percent Cigarette Tax Hike, by Gerald Prante, June 28, 2007
- Who Will Pay Taxes for Tennessee Governor's "Schools First" Initiative, and Who Will Receive the Spending?, by Andrew Chamberlain and Gerald Prante, April 18, 2007
- California Cigarette Tax Proposal Would Hurt State's Poorest, by Andrew Chamberlain and Patrick Fleenor, October 28, 2006
- Crime, Terror Benefit from Prop. 203 Cigarette Tax Hike in Arizona, by Patrick Fleenor, October 16, 2006
- Smugglers and Thieves Await Passage of California's Prop. 86 Cigarette Tax Hike, by Patrick Fleenor, October 12, 2006
- California Schemin': Cigarette Tax Evasion and Crime in the Golden State, by Patrick Fleenor, October 5, 2006
- What Is Proper Tax Policy for Smokeless Tobacco Products?, by Gerald Prante, September 22, 2006
- Higher Cigarette Taxes Mean More Smuggling, by Patrick Fleenor, May 15, 2006
- Federal Excise Tax Collections, 1940-2006, April 28, 2006
- State Excise Taxation: Horse-and-Buggy Taxes In an Electronic Age, by Richard E. Wagner, Ph.D., May 31, 2005
- Dates of Adoption of Major State Taxes, January 1, 2005
- Who Bears the Ancillary Cost of Tobacco Use?, by Patrick Fleenor, January 1, 2001
- Justice v. Tobacco: Justice Loses, by J. D. Foster, Ph.D., September 1, 1999
- Federal Excise Taxes and the Distribution of Taxes Under Tax Reform, by J. Scott Moody, January 1, 1999
- How Excise Tax Differentials Affect Interstate Smuggling and Cross-Border Sales of Cigarettes in the United States, by Patrick Fleenor, October 1, 1998
- Burning Issues in the Tobacco Settlement: An Economic Perspective, by Jane Gravelle, July 1, 1998
- How the McCain Bill Will Affect Smokers' Wallets and the Underground Cigarette Market, by Patrick Fleenor, March 1, 1998
- Excise Taxes and Sound Tax Policy, by John R. McGowan, May 1, 1997
- Tax Reform and Excise Tax Policy Fundamentals Conference Proceedings, January 10, 1997
- Tax Differentials on the Interstate Smuggling and Cross-Border Sales of Cigarettes in the United States, by Patrick Fleenor, October 1, 1996
- Links to Other Tax Policy Resources, December 31, 1969