Cigarette & Roll Your Own (RYO) Tobacco Taxes by State

After burdening smokers with paying the ongoing costs of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), smokers are continually harassed in most states with ever increasing Excise Taxes. As of April 1, 2009 the Federal Excise Tax (FET) rates saw their single largest increases in history to fund the SCHIP expansion. Cigarette taxes more than doubled to over $1.00 a pack and Roll Your Own tobacco taxes Increased by nearly $24 per pound!

Current U.S. Federal Tobacco Tax Rates:

Federal Excise Tax (FET) on all tobacco products increased to the new rates on April 1, 2009.

FET on pack of (20) cigarettes = $1.01 per pack - old rate was $0.39
FET on pipe tobacco = $2.83 per pound - old rate was $0.0686 per oz. ($1.0969 per pound)
FET on Roll Your Own tobacco = $24.78 per pound - old rate was $0.0686 per oz. ($1.0969 per pound)
FET on cigarette papers (50 or less) = $0.0315 - old rate was $0.0122
FET on cigarette tubes (50 or less) = $0.0630 - old rate was $0.0244

Also see the complete table of Tobacco Tax Rates Before and After SCHIP

Fire-Safe Certified (FSC)

Another assault against cigarette smokers has been quietly enacted via legislation at the state level mandating all cigarettes sold are fire-safe certified (FSC) cigarettes. These are also known as reduced ignition propensity (RIP) cigarettes and are manufactured using paper with bands of burn resistant chemicals which reduce their ability to burn if left unattended. Canada enacted a nationwide FSC law on October 1, 2005. In the U.S., every state with the exception of Wyoming has enacted laws requiring that all cigarettes sold are FSC compliant. Several ongoing discussions about FSC cigarettes, including this one about the chemicals found in the "speed bumps" can be found in the RYO Revolution forums. The table below shows the effective date of these FSC laws by state.

Cigarette & Roll Your Own (RYO) Tobacco Tax Table Notes:

The table also lists the current cigarette tax and OTP (Other Tobacco Products) tax rates for all 50 states & D.C. Note that although the OTP category includes cigars, chewing tobacco, smoking tobacco and snuff, this table ONLY shows the tax rate for smoking tobacco (some states tax different OTP products at varying rates).

The cigarette tax listed is for a standard pack of 20 cigarettes. The OTP (Other Tobacco Products) tax rate is calculated in several ways depending on the state. The wholesale price indicates the price charged to the retailer by the wholesaler / distributor, whereas the manuf. (manufacturers price) is usually based on the price charged by the manufacturer to the wholesaler / distributor. The dates listed denote the most recent increase in cigarette and OTP tax rates.