Research Areas
Excise Taxes
Excise taxes are special taxes on specific goods or activities—such as gasoline, tobacco or gambling—rather than general tax bases such as income or consumption. Excise taxes are often included in the final price of products and services, and are often hidden to consumers. Overall excise taxes account for less than 10 percent of all federal receipts. All 50 states and many local municipalities levy excise taxes of various kinds. Studies show excise taxes are disproportionately borne by low-income taxpayers, making them one of the most regressive components of the U.S. tax system.
Additional questions about excise taxes? Contact Bill 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 tyranny of taxing 'sin', by Patrick Fleenor, May 14, 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
- American Households Would Face Annual Burden of $144.8 Billion Under Cap-and-Trade System, March 19, 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
- Give police a break: Leave the cigarette tax alone, by Patrick Fleenor, December 11, 2008
- Map: State Excise Tax Rates on Beer, 2008, November 30, 2008
- Permitting Class Refund Actions Is Key to Effective Challenges of Illegal Taxes: Ardon v. City of Los Angeles, by Joseph Henchman and Travis Greaves, November 24, 2008
- Urging California Court of Appeal to Permit Class Refund Actions in Challenges of Illegal Local Taxes-- Ardon v. City of Los Angeles, by Joseph Henchman and Edward M. Teyssier, November 14, 2008
- Federal Excise Tax Rates, 1944-2008. Selected Years, November 9, 2008
- Cigarette Taxes Are Fueling Organized Crime, by Patrick Fleenor, May 7, 2008
- The Distributional Impact of Windfall Profits Taxes and a Gas Tax Holiday, by Gerald Prante, May 2, 2008
- Federal Gasoline Excise Tax Rate, 1932-2008, April 30, 2008
- Beacon Hill's Gift to the Black Market, by Patrick Fleenor, April 26, 2008
- Oil Profits and Taxes, 1981-2006 , April 2, 2008
- What Is Proper Tax Policy for Smokeless Tobacco Products?, by Gerald Prante, March 26, 2008
- The Growth in Federal Gasoline Taxes, 1932-2005, March 11, 2008
- States Target Cell Phones for a Stealth, Burdensome Tax, by Joseph Henchman, January 18, 2008
- Paying at the Pump: Gasoline Taxes in America, by Jonathan Williams, October 16, 2007
- Questions to Ask Before Raising the Federal Gas Tax, by Gerald Prante, August 27, 2007
- Taxing Obesity: A Modest Proposal, by Adam Creighton, August 8, 2007
- 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
- Toll Revenue vs. Motor Fuel Taxes by State, 2005, June 11, 2007
- State Motor Fuel Tax Collections by State, 2006, June 7, 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
- Fraction of Each Quintile's Total Tax Burden Accounted for by Each Type of Tax, Calendar Year 2004 , April 1, 2007
- Average Dollar Tax Burdens by Type of Federal Tax, Per Household, Calendar Year 2004 , April 1, 2007
- Tax Fairness Would Suffer under Senator Smith?s Cigarette Tax Hike, by Patrick Fleenor, March 30, 2007
- Estimating Federal Tax Burdens for Major City Areas, Counties, and U.S. Congressional Districts, by Andrew Chamberlain and Gerald Prante, March 22, 2007
- Gasoline Taxes: User Fees or Pigouvian Levies?, by Jonathan Williams, November 27, 2006
- Fat Taxes Are the Wrong Prescription, by Andrew Chamberlain and Patrick Fleenor, November 11, 2006
- California's Prop. 87 Fails Economics 101, by Jonathan Williams, November 3, 2006
- 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
- Soda Tax the Wrong Way to Help Curb Obesity, by Sara Cseresnyes and Andrew Chamberlain, July 21, 2006
- Temporary Gasoline Tax Holidays: Relief for Motorists or Poor Tax Policy?, by Jonathan Williams and Andrew Chamberlain, July 10, 2006
- Federal Excise Tax Collections, 1940-2006, April 28, 2006
- Large Oil Industry Tax Payments Undercut Case for Windfall Profits Tax, by Jonathan Williams and Scott A. Hodge, January 31, 2006
- State and Federal Treasuries "Profit" More from Gasoline Sales than U.S. Oil Industry, by Scott A. Hodge and Jonathan Williams, October 26, 2005
- Local, State and Federal Gas Taxes Consume 45.9 Cents Per Gallon on Average, by Jonathan Williams, September 13, 2005
- State Excise Taxation: Horse-and-Buggy Taxes In an Electronic Age, by Richard E. Wagner, Ph.D., May 31, 2005
- Effective State, Local & Federal Telecommunications Taxes by State, 2004, May 25, 2005
- Dates of Adoption of Major State Taxes, January 1, 2005
- A Critique of the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine's Recommendation to Raise Alcohol Excises to Curb Underage Drinking, by Patrick Fleenor, March 1, 2004
- Cross-Border Shopping by Beer and Cigarette Buyers Highlights Tax Competition Among States, by TF Staff, December 15, 2002
- Who Bears the Ancillary Cost of Tobacco Use?, by Patrick Fleenor, January 1, 2001
- Taxing Talk: The Telephone Excise Tax and the Universal Service Fees, by Stephen J. Entin, March 1, 2000
- The Unintended Consequences of the Inland Waterway Excise Tax, by John Dunham, February 1, 2000
- The Telephone Excise and the E-Rate Add-On Tax, by J. D. Foster, Ph.D., July 1, 1999
- How Excise Tax Differentials Affect the Cross-Border Sales of Beer in the United States, by Patrick Fleenor, May 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
- The Regressivity of Sin Taxes: The Lifetime Tax Burden of Taxes on Alcohol and Cigarettes, by Andrew B. Lyon and Robert B. Schwab, November 1, 1997
- Excise Taxes and Sound Tax Policy, by John R. McGowan, May 1, 1997
- The Use and Abuse of Exise Taxes, by Dwight R. Lee, Ph.D., 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
- The Taxation of Energy in the U.S.: Who Pays?, by Arthur P. Hall, Ph.D., March 1, 1994
- The Price of Mobility: Gasoline Taxes in America, by Chris R. Edwards, June 1, 1993
- Tax Review: The Oil Excise Tax: Another Government Windfall, by David I. Meiselman, October 1, 1979
- Federal Non-Income Taxes: An Examination of Selected Revenue Sources, by TF Staff, April 1, 1965
- Federal Excise Taxes, by TF Staff, June 1, 1956
- Links to Other Tax Policy Resources, December 31, 1969