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 us at (202) 464-6200.
Articles from the Tax Foundation
- Scott Drenkard on Candy and Soda Taxes, November 3, 2011
- Overreaching on Obesity: Governments Consider New Taxes on Soda and Candy, by Scott Drenkard, October 31, 2011
- Map: State Spirits Excise Tax Rates, as of September 1, 2010 (Dollars Per Gallon), June 6, 2011
- Map: Cigarette Taxes as of January 1st, 2011, June 2, 2011
- Map: Beer Excise Tax Rates, as of January 1st, 2011, June 2, 2011
- Map: Cell Phone Taxes, June 2, 2011
- The Role of Congress in State Tax Legislation: Ensuring that State Taxation Does Not Do Harm to the National Economy (Testimony Before the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial, and Administrative Law), by Joseph Henchman, May 25, 2011
- Rising Gasoline Prices Benefit a Few States, by Alex Wood-Doughty, Sarah Hyon and Kail Padgitt, March 22, 2011
- Connecticut Governor Malloy Proposes Multifaceted Tax Plan, by Kailee Tkacz and Mark Robyn, March 14, 2011
- Facts & Figures Handbook: How Does Your State Compare?, edited by Mark Robyn, February 28, 2011
- State Gasoline Tax Rates, as of January 1, 2011 , February 25, 2011
- State Excise Tax Rates on Spirits, as of September 1, 201, February 25, 2011
- State Table Wine Excise Tax Rates, as of January 1, 2011, February 25, 2011
- State Cigarette Excise Tax Rates, as of January 1, 2011, February 25, 2011
- State Beer Excise Tax Rates, as of January 1, 2011, February 25, 2011
- State and Local Excise and Selective Sales Tax Collections Per Capita, Fiscal Year 2008, February 25, 2011
- State and Local Cell Phone Tax Rates, as of July 1, 2010, February 24, 2011
- States Target Cell Phones for Stealth, Burdensome Taxes, by Joseph Henchman, February 18, 2011
- Joseph Henchman of the Tax Foundation on 2010 State Tax Changes, January 27, 2011
- State Tax Changes During 2010, by Joseph Henchman, January 12, 2011
- IEA Study Ranks Nations’ Subsidies to Fossil Fuel Consumption, by Scott A. Hodge, November 22, 2010
- A Review of 2010’s Changes In State Tax Policy, by Joseph Henchman and Xander Stephenson, August 23, 2010
- Ground new airline taxes, by Ryan Forster, August 15, 2010
- Putting Corporate Tax “Loopholes” In Perspective, by Scott A. Hodge, August 3, 2010
- Oil Today, Fatty Foods and Sugary Drinks Tomorrow: The Administration’s Assault on the Manufacturing Deduction for Oil Companies, by Scott A. Hodge, August 2, 2010
- Oil Industry Taxes: A Cash Cow For Government, by Scott A. Hodge, July 28, 2010
- Estuardo Ardon vs. City of Los Angeles, by Edward M. Teyssier and Joseph Henchman, July 1, 2010
- Permitting Class Refund Actions Protects California Taxpayers Against Illegal Taxes: Ardon v. City of Los Angeles, by Joseph Henchman and Arushi Sharma, July 1, 2010
- Get ready for the tanning tax, by Natasha Altamirano, June 30, 2010
- Map: State Gasoline Tax Rates, As of January 2010, June 7, 2010
- Bag Taxes Disappointing in Debut, by Justin Higginbottom, May 12, 2010
- Wishful Thinking About Tax Burdens in Ohio, by Mark Robyn and Rob Shrum, April 7, 2010
- High cigarette taxes stoke bootlegging, violence, by Patrick Fleenor, April 6, 2010
- State Sales, Gasoline, Cigarette, and Alcohol Tax Rates by State, 2000-2010, April 1, 2010
- State and Local General and Selective Sales Tax Collections Per Capita, Fiscal Year 2007 , March 29, 2010
- How the $938 Billion Health Care Bill Is Financed, March 26, 2010
- How Does Your State Compare? Tax Foundation Releases 2010 Facts & Figures Handbook, March 25, 2010
- Smoke and Mirrors on the Tobacco Tax Hike, by Patrick Fleenor, March 10, 2010
- Georgia Should Refrain from Relying on Smokers to Fill Budget Hole, by Justin Higginbottom, March 10, 2010
- Georgia Should Respond to Recession with Tax Reform, Not Tax Gimmicks, by Justin Higginbottom, February 19, 2010
- High-Income Counties Benefit Most from Georgia Tobacco Tax, Study Shows, February 18, 2010
- Georgia Tobacco Tax Favors High-Income Counties, by Patrick Fleenor, February 18, 2010
- Joe Henchman of the Tax Foundation: Discriminatory Taxes on Online Travel Companies, February 17, 2010
- Cities Pursue Discriminatory Taxation of Online Travel Services, by Joseph Henchman, February 3, 2010
- Bush Tax Cuts, AMT Lead Tax Foundation List of Decade's Top Tax Stories, December 31, 2009
- Top 10 Tax Stories of the Decade, by TF Staff, December 30, 2009
- Orange Grove: Cities overreach on hotel fees, by Joseph Henchman, November 10, 2009
- How the Pelosi and Baucus Health Care Reform Bills Are Financed, October 30, 2009
- Comparing Financing of the House and Senate Health Care Reform Plans, by Gerald Prante, October 30, 2009
- Where Do State and Local Governments Get Their Tax Revenue?, by Gerald Prante, October 9, 2009
- Fergus Cullen of the Yankee Institute for Public Policy: Connecticut Budget, September 16, 2009
- Dr. Jody L. Sindelar of the Yale School of Public Health: Sin Taxes, August 11, 2009
- States Begin New Fiscal Year Following Many Tax Changes, July 13, 2009
- Some States Respond to Budget Shortfalls with Tax Increases, by Mark Robyn and Kail Padgitt, July 13, 2009
- The Dam Bursts in the Beaver State: Oregon’s Wave of Tax Increases and New Spending, by Joseph Henchman and Jack Mountjoy, July 9, 2009
- Higher cigarette taxes: unhealthy and unfair, by Patrick Fleenor, June 29, 2009
- The Dangers of Privatizing Tax Collection: Priceline.com, Inc. v. City of Anaheim, by Joseph Henchman and Justin Burrows, June 25, 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 Mark Robyn and Joseph Henchman, May 12, 2009
- Nanny Tax Rap Video, by Matt Moon, May 9, 2009
- Border Zone Cigarette Taxation: Arkansas’s Novel Solution to the Border Shopping Problem, by Mark Robyn, April 9, 2009
- Topline Results for Tax Foundation's 2009 Survey of U.S. Attitudes on Taxes, Government Spending and Wealth Distribution, April 8, 2009
- The Effect of the Federal Cigarette Tax Increase on State Revenue, by Patrick Fleenor, April 1, 2009
- Who Pays for Climate Policy? New Estimates of the Household Burden and Economic Impact of a U.S. Cap-and-Trade System, by Andrew Chamberlain, March 16, 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
- New York Governor David Paterson’s Tax and Fee Proposals a Mixed Bag, by Josh Barro, January 22, 2009
- Funding S-CHIP with Federal Cigarette Tax Increase is Poor Tax Policy, by Joseph Henchman and Gerald Prante, 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 Edward M. Teyssier and Joseph Henchman, November 14, 2008
- Federal Excise Tax Rates, 1944-2008. Selected Years, November 9, 2008
- Economic Growth Requires Bold Steps: Mississippi Should Consider Tax Reform Recommendations, by Joseph Henchman, July 18, 2008
- Arizona's Special Interest Laundry List, by Josh Barro and Joseph Henchman, June 24, 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 Gerald Prante and Curtis S. Dubay, 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 Andrew Chamberlain and Jonathan Williams, 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 Robert B. Schwab and Andrew B. Lyon, November 1, 1997
- Excise Taxes and Sound Tax Policy, by John R. McGowan, May 1, 1997
- The Use and Abuse of Excise 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