September 2017
The ATS joined several other physician, public health and tobacco control groups in a letter of support for legislation introduced by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill) to rationalize federal excise taxes across all forms of tobacco. Currently the federal government taxes large cigars, pipe tobacco and smokeless tobacco at rates significantly below that of cigarettes, small cigars and roll-your-own tobacco. There are no federal excise taxes on e-cigarettes.
If enacted, the legislation would raise federal excise taxes on all tobacco products to a level equivalent to federal taxes on cigarettes. This would raise an estimated $4 billion in federal revenue over five years. The bill would also direct the U.S. Treasury Department to put excise taxes on e-cigarettes and on all future nicotine products that fall under FDA jurisdiction as tobacco products.
