Bill Seeks to More Than Double Tennessee’s Tobacco Tax

A bill has been introduced in Tennessee that would lower the taxes on food at the expense of more than doubling the taxes on tobacco products, including cigars.

Rep. Bo Mitchell, D-Nashville, and Sen. Sara Kyle, D-Memphis, have introduced H.B. 1213 and S.B. 946, identical pieces of legislation that would remove the 4 percent state sales tax on food while increasing the taxes on tobacco products.

For other tobacco products like cigars, the increase would be from 6.6 percent to 17 percent of the wholesale price.

halfwheel estimates that a cigar with an MSRP of $9.50 retails for around $10.13 before sales tax in Tennessee. That would increase to $11.12 if the legislation was passed.

For cigarettes, taxes would increase from 3 cents to 8.35 cents per cigarette.

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.