October 1, 2008 - District of Columbia cigarette excise tax will increase from $1 to $2 ..

October 2, 2008 - On October 1, 2008, the District of Columbia cigarette excise tax increased from $1 to $2 for a pack of 20 cigarettes and from $1.25 to $2.50 for a pack of 25 cigarettes. The new excise tax rate applies to previously stamped floor stock, including cigarettes in vending machines and all cigarettes held by retailers or wholesalers for commercial distribution or sale in the District of Columbia on or after October 1, 2008.

There was no excise tax increase on other tobacco products. As pointed out by Washington, DC based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids increasing cigarette taxes without increasing the tax on other tobacco products such as moist snuff and cigars prompts kids to start using these nicotine-addicting products. According to a city report from your neighboring city of Baltimore data compiled by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Black & Mild cigars are smoked by 24 percent of African-American residents of Baltimore aged 18 to 24 (some as young as 12).

To protect the youth in your community it's time increase the tax on all tobacco products NOT just cigarettes. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Task Force on Community Preventive Services recommends excise tax increase to raise the unit prices of tobacco products in order to: 1) reduce consumption of tobacco products; 2) reduce tobacco-use initiation and 3) increase tobacco-use cessation.

Related news brief: District of Columbia (D.C. Washington) to double tax on a pack of cigarettes to $2.00...

Reference: Cigarette Excise Tax to Increase on October 1, District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue, 8/22/2008.