Cigarette taxes were increased in 15 states last year, bringing the national average to about $2.35 a pack as lawmakers aimed to discourage smoking and add more than $1 billion to government coffers, a U.S. report found.

The mean increase was 52 cents, raising state taxes to about $1.34 on each pack, according to the study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The federal tax was also increased last year to $1.01 from 39 cents a pack.

Smoking rates in the U.S. fell about 15 percent in the last decade, though declines slowed in the last five years, according to the Atlanta-based CDC. Thomas Frieden, the agency’s director, has warned that decades of smoking reductions may be ending unless taxes increase and more money is spent on education.

“Increasing cigarette excise taxes is one of the most effective tobacco control policies,” the report’s authors wrote. “Additional increases in cigarette excise taxes and dedication of all resulting revenues to tobacco control and prevention programs at levels recommended by CDC could result in further reductions in smoking.”

Each $1-a-pack increase brings in about $9.1 billion in annual tax revenue, according to the report. A dollar increase, over time, also prevents about 1 million smoking-related deaths and stops 2.3 million children from becoming smokers, the CDC said.

None of the 15 states that increased taxes last year mandated that the money go to smoking prevention programs, which would help curb tobacco use, the CDC said. The states may have increased their taxes because of budget shortfalls last year, the agency said.

All 50 states have cigarette taxes. About 460 cities, towns and counties also impose taxes, which weren’t included in the $2.35 per-pack tax in today’s report. New York City charges an extra $1.50 a pack, and Chicago-Cook County charges $2.68, according to the CDC.

source: bloomberg.com

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