Another New Jersey Cigar Tax Increase Proposed

Last month, two bills were introduced in the New Jersey legislature that would have raised the tax on cigars from 30 percent of the wholesale price to 90 percent. Now, there’s another set of proposals, this time increasing it form 30 percent of the wholesale price to $2.70 per cigar.

The two bills—A1832 and S1867—would increase the tax on other tobacco products from 30 to 68 percent, although most of the products would have more specific rates.

For cigars, that would be $2.70 per cigar.

A cigar with a suggested retail price of $9.50 likely retails for around $12.35 due to the tax in New Jersey. If the new tax were passed, this would increase the price to $14.90. But where the cigar is particularly crippling is to any cigar that retails for less than $5.

A cigar with a suggested retail price of $4.50 likely retails in New Jersey for around $5.85, but with the new tax this could be as high as $9.90.

taxes on snuff would increase from 75 cents to $2.25 per ounce, taxes on cigarillos would be 54 cents per cigarillo, while little cigars would be taxed at 13.5 cents per cigar. Pipe tobacco would be taxed at $4.15 per ounce and e-cigarettes would be subject to a 75 percent tax on their wholesale price.

Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.