U.S. State and Local Issues

Spending on Tobacco Prevention: Wisconsin

Last updated November 29, 2011

  FY2012 FY2011
State Rank 29 29
State Spending on Tobacco Prevention $5.3 million $6.9 million
% of CDC Recommended Spending
($64.3 million)		 8.3% 10.7%

Summary: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that Wisconsin spend $64.3 million a year to have an effective, comprehensive tobacco prevention program.  Wisconsin currently allocates $5.3 million a year for tobacco prevention and cessation.  This is 8.3% of the CDC’s recommendation and ranks Wisconsin 29th among the states in the funding of tobacco prevention programs.  Wisconsin’s spending on tobacco prevention amounts to 0.7% of the estimated $793 million in tobacco-generated revenue the state collects each year from settlement payments and tobacco taxes.

Recent Developments: In FY2010, Wisconsin cut its funding for tobacco prevention by more than 50 percent, from $15.25 million in FY2009 to $6.85 million in FY2010.  Since the funding cut was part of a biennial budget, the tobacco prevention and control program also had $6.85 million to spend in FY2011.  The FY2012 budget reduces funding for the state’s tobacco prevention and cessation program even further, to $5.3 million Wisconsin is spending minimal amounts on tobacco prevention despite the fact that the state is receiving more tobacco-generated revenue than ever before as a result of a 75-cent cigarette tax increase, to $2.52 a pack, and increases in the taxes on other tobacco products, including a switch from the weight-based tax on moist snuff to a percentage-of-price tax of 100% of the wholesale price, which went into effect on July 1, 2009. In addition, Wisconsin is receiving $1.7 million in federal funds dedicated to tobacco prevention and control:

  • $1.2 million from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a 12-month grant for the period beginning April 2011 (from annual appropriations).

  • $112,051 from the Prevention and Public Health Fund in the new health care reform law. 

  • $429,990 from the Food and Drug Administration for enforcement of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, including the provision regarding tobacco sales to minors.