Federal Excise Tobacco Tax Increases for SCHIP
The new tobacco tax rates became effective April 1, 2009.
- Apr 1, 2009 - New FET (federal excise tax) tobacco rates take effect
- Feb 4, 2009 - President Obama signed the SCHIP legislation into Law
- Feb 4, 2009 - House passed amended SCHIP bill 290 to 135
- Jan 29, 2009 - Senate passed amended SCHIP bill 66 to 32
- Jan 14, 2009 - House passed SCHIP expansion bill (H.R.2) 289 to 139
This table shows the previous U.S. Federal excise tax on tobacco products, the tax rates in the 2007 SCHIP legislation that passed Congress but was vetoed twice by President Bush and the 2009 SCHIP renewal and expansion legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Obama Feb 4, 2009.
| Tobacco Product | Previous Tax | SCHIP 2007 (Vetoed) |
SCHIP 2009 (New Tax) |
Tax Increase | % Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cigarettes | $0.39/pack | $1.01/pack | $0.62/pack | 158% | |
| RYO Tobacco 1 | $1.10/lb | $24.78/lb | $23.68/lb | 2,159% | |
| Pipe Tobacco | $1.10/lb | $2.83/lb | $1.73/lb | 158% | |
| Large Cigars | $0.05 ea (Max) | $0.40 ea (Max) | $0.35 ea (Max) | 722% | |
| Small Cigars | $0.04/pack | $1.01/pack | $0.97 | 2,653% | |
| Chewing Tobacco | $0.20/lb | $0.50/lb | $0.31/lb | 158% | |
| Snuff | $0.59/lb | $1.51/lb | $0.93/lb | 158% |
|
"pack" = 20 (cigarettes or small cigars) "lb" = 1 pound (16 ounces) net weight 1 The New Law amends Roll Your Own Tobacco classification to include Blunts & Cigar Wrappers Tax rates were rounded to the nearest cent. New federal tax on cigarette papers (50 or less) is $0.0315 New federal tax on cigarette tubes (50 or less) is $0.0630 (about 25 cents for a box of 200 tubes) |
What this means to the average Roll Your Own tobacco consumer is that a 1 oz. pouch of cigarette tobacco for RYO & MYO has Increased approx. $1.50 to cover the new Federal Excise Tax on April 1, 2009. One pound bags of rolling tobacco previously available for as little as $11 now sell for over $35, a mid-range $16 bag increased to over $40 and premium RYO tobacco at $20/lb. increased to over $44 per pound.
If you'd like to join the ongoing discussion regarding the SCHIP tax increases
and other topics, join us in the RYO Revolution Forum