Michigan Legislature Approves 50-Cent Cigar Tax Cap

The Michigan Legislature approved Senate Bill 1004, a piece of legislation that would put into place a 50-cent cigar tax on November 1st. The bill now heads to Gov. Rick Snyder’s desk for his signature.

In a news release, the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers cited “diligent, long work and effort” by a group that included the Michigan Premium Cigar Retailers Association, Cigar Rights of America and the IPCPR’s state lobby team as being key to getting the legislation passed. The group had a series of negotiations with the Governor’s office and the state’s treasury department in an effort to craft a piece of legislation that was fair to both retailer and government.

Michigan’s current cigar tax is 32% of the wholesale price, meaning that if a cigar was sold from a manufacturer to a retailer for $5, the cigar would bear a tax of $1.60. This should mean that the cost of nearly every cigar sold in premium tobacconists will go down significantly once the legislation takes effect.

Michigan becomes the seventh state in the U.S. to cap the excise tax applied to cigars, joining Oregon, Washington, Rhode Island, Wiconsin, Iowa, Connecticut, and Vermont.

Patrick Lagreid

I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, the G-League's Valley Suns, and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.