Tobacco Tax Toolkit

Tobacco Taxes: A Win-Win-Win for Cash-Strapped States

Last Updated: April 15, 2011

Media Resources

For state specific numbers or for help tailoring any of these materials to your state, contact your regional advocacy director (f you do not know who that is, please contact research@tobaccofreekids.org).

• Sample Letters to the Editor

• Sample Editorial Board Memo

• Sample Op-ed

• Materials Used in Georgia (2010)
  • Print ad: Whose side is your legislator on? (PDF)
  • Print ad: How many reasons do we need to raise the tobacco tax? (PDF)
  • Radio ad (MP3)
  • Phone patch-through script (MS Word doc)

• Materials Used in Idaho (2011)

  • Print ad: Whose side is your legislator on? (PDF)
  • Micro site

Advocacy Resources

Most of these resources can be tailored to your state.  For more information, contact your regional advocacy director (if you do not know who that is, please contact research@tobaccofreekids.org).

• Countering Convenience Stores

  • The Economic Impact of State Cigarette Taxes and Smoke-free Air Policies on Convenience Stores. This new study by Frank Chaloupka and Jidong Huang from Impacteen and the University of Illinois-Chicago can be used with policymakers to country convenience store claims and can also be used to generate media in your community on the topic. The study looked at tobacco tax increases in all states over a number of years and found no decrease in convenience stores after tobacco tax increases; in fact, it found a slight increase.
  • Media Outreach Ideas for The Economic Impact of State Cigarette Taxes and Smoke-free Air Policies on Convenience Stores
  • For a sample state release or other related media materials, please contact Dan Cronin.
  • Flyer: Big Tobacco & Convenience Stores: An Unhealthy Alliance – A Win-Win-Win For States (PDF)
  • Flyer: Big Tobacco & Convenience Stores: An Unhealthy Alliance – Whose Side Are You On? (PDF)
  • Fact sheet: State Cigarette Tax Increases, Retailers, and Jobs

• A Significant Cigarette Tax Rate Increase in Idaho Would Produce a Large, Sustained Increase in State Tobacco Tax Revenues, a report by Frank J. Chaloupka and Jidong Huang, released February 24, 2011.

• Materials used in Georgia (2010)

• Event Flyer (PDF)
• Office Drop Off Flyer (PDF)
• Phone patch-through script (MS Word doc)

• PPT Slides: Cigarette Tax Revenues in Georgia v. South Carolina, Florida v. Georgia, and Florida v. Alabama

• Materials used in Kansas (2010)

  • PPT Slide: Kansas v. Missouri Revenues

  • One-Pager:  Will Kansas smokers go to the internet to buy tax-free cigarettes if the Kansas cigarette tax rate is increased?
    This fact sheet can be used in response to claims that the tax increase will drive people to buy tobacco products from the Internet.  It also includes a short explanation on the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act.

  • One-Pager:  What happened last time Kansas increased its cigarette tax:  Did many smokers go to Missouri to get lower-taxed cigarettes?
    This fact sheet shows that after Kansas’s last cigarette tax increases, people did not rush across the border to Missouri to buy cigarettes and avoid paying taxes.

  • One-Pager:  Tobacco tax increases offer Kansas a reliable source of substantial new state revenues
    This fact sheet shows how tobacco taxes are reliable and consistent sources of revenue, and that states that significantly increase their tax rates collect a substantial amount of new revenue, at a level that continues years after the increase goes into effect.  We also have examples from many other states showing similar trends

  • One-Pager:  Does Kansas get more money per pack than the cigarette companies
    This fact sheet shows the breakdown per pack between the tobacco companies’ revenues and state revenues (from the cigarette tax), compared to the healthcare and productivity costs per pack.

Research Resources

• Fact sheet: Raising State Cigarette Taxes Always Increases State Revenues and Always Reduces Smoking

• Fact sheet: Tobacco Tax Increases are a Reliable Source of Substantial New State Revenue

• Fact sheet: Raising Cigarette Taxes Reduces Smoking, Especially Among Kids (and the Cigarette Companies Know It)

• Fact sheet: Voters in All States Support Significant Increases in State Cigarette Taxes

• Fact sheet: Map Showing State Cigarette Tax Rates

• Fact sheet: State Cigarette Excise Tax Rates & Rankings

• Fact sheet: State Benefits from Increasing Smokeless Tobacco Tax Rates

• Fact sheet: The Best Way to Tax Smokeless Tobacco

• Fact sheet: Explanations & Sources for TFK Projections of New Revenues & Benefits from State Cigarette Tax Increases
  

• Fact sheet: Responses to Misleading and Inaccurate Cigarette Company Arguments Against State Cigarette Tax Increases

• Fact sheet: The Many Ways States Can Raise Revenues While Also Reducing Tobacco Use and Related Harms & Costs

• Fact sheet: Tax Increases Are Not Enough - States Must Also Invest in Tobacco Prevention Programs

• Fact sheet: Comprehensive State Tobacco-Control Programs Save Money

• Legislative Checklist for State Cigarette Tax Increases

• Bipartisan support for tobacco tax increases
  

• List of TFK tobacco tax resources
  

• Template Poll
  

• Template PowerPoint presentation (MS Powerpoint file)

• Data for Powerpoint Presentation (MS Excel file)

• Other TFK state tobacco tax fact sheets

• February 2010 Tobacco Tax Report Webinar presentation