Join Us on Facebook
Follow Us On Twitter
Share
RSS
States Fail to Raise Tobacco Taxes
2011 was also the first year in recent memory where no state significantly raised its tobacco tax. New York continues to have the highest cigarette tax ($4.35 per pack), while Missouri continues to lag behind all others at 17 cents per pack.
Vermont (by 38 cents) and Connecticut (by 40 cents) were the only two states to raise cigarette taxes in 2011 (Hawaii’s cigarette tax did increase by 20 cents per pack due to an increase passed previously). Connecticut’s cigarette tax increased to $3.40 per pack, giving the state the third highest tax in the nation. Connecticut also raised taxes on other tobacco products, including cigars, smokeless and pipe tobacco – which is important as the tobacco industry looks to sustain smokers’ addictions and increase its profits among these other types of tobacco products. Despite the efforts of public health advocates who supported a $1.00 per pack increase, Vermont raised its tax by only 38 cents to $2.62 per pack. While this increase will bring in some additional revenue to the state, it is unlikely to have any real impact on smoking rates.
A proposal to increase West Virginia’s tax by $1.00, which at 55 cents is one of the lowest in the nation, was rejected by state lawmakers. West Virginia has the highest adult smoking rate in the nation (26.8 percent).1 Other states that failed to pass proposed increases include Georgia, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon and Virginia.
New Hampshire legislators gave a gift to the cigarette companies by rolling back its state cigarette tax by 10 cents per pack in 2011. State legislators believed the false claim that the state would profit from having the lowest cigarette tax in New England. Instead, tobacco companies immediately raised their prices by 10 cents so they could pocket the difference.2 New Hampshire is also the only New England state with a youth smoking rate higher than the national average.3
Louisiana’s cigarette tax would have been reduced by four cents per pack in July 2012 when Gov. Bobby Jindal vetoed legislation that would have extended this portion of the tax indefinitely. Fortunately, the four-cent cigarette tax extension was added to a ballot measure submitted to voters by the legislature that was approved in October 2011, keeping Louisiana’s tax at 36 cents per pack.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey Prevalence Report 1997-2010.
- Sanborn, Aaron. “Tobacco price increase offsets N.H. tax cut.” Seacoastonline.com July 24, 2011. Accessed July 29, 2011.
- The national high school smoking rate is 19.5% and the high school smoking rate in New Hampshire is 20.8%, according to CDC’s 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Available at: www.cdc.gov/yrbs.
