$250 Billion Is Enough!

From 1998-2005, federal, state and local governments collected more than $250 BILLION in tax and Master Settlement Agreement (MSA)/state payments. Since 2001, 44 states have increased tobacco taxes, and proposals to increase the federal excise tax on cigarettes, currently 39 cents per pack, are constantly being considered by Congress.

• Since 2000, federal taxes on a pack of cigarettes have increased 62.5 percent.
• Since 1998, the average cost of a pack of cigarettes has nearly doubled (from $2.04 to $4.05).
• Since 1999, government tobacco revenue has increased nearly 66 percent.

Cigarette tax increase proposals are made frequently – usually to fund new or expanded government programs unrelated to tobacco control. Some proponents of increasing the tax have characterized it as "voluntary," or have said they are not really interested in the tax revenue the increase might create. Despite these characterizations, further increasing excise taxes on cigarettes amounts to "politically correct" tax profiling of adult smokers.