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Rhode Island lawmakers wants your cigarette dollars but they don't want you! The anti's are choking the economy of Rhode Island!!!

Rhode Island Information

Rhode Island Smokers:
A public yahoo group for anyone who wants to talk about the Rhode Island ban situation.

Tobacco Taxes

Rhode Island's excise tax per pack of cigarettes: $1.710
Rhode Island's excise tax collection for the
fiscal year ending June 2002: $79,064,000

Sales tax on tobacco products: 7.00%

Federal excise tax per pack of cigarettes: $0.39
Total federal excise tax collections in fiscal year 2002: $7,512,700,000

Click here for the Cigarette Tax and Payment Table for all states.

Comparing Excise Taxes on Cigarettes, Beer and Wine

Number of six-packs of beer that must be sold in Rhode Island to produce the same state excise tax revenue generated by one carton of cigarettes: 241.9

Number of bottles of wine that must be sold in Rhode Island to produce the same state excise tax revenue generated by one carton of cigarettes: 111

Rhode Island Smokers' Contributions
to the State Economy - FY2003

In 2002, Rhode Island smokers comprised only 22.5%¹ of the adult population in the state. Here is what they already pay because they choose to buy a legal product:

Smokers Pay Excise Taxes²	$	94,002,000
Smokers Pay Sales Taxes²	$	22,076,000
Smokers Pay Tobacco Settlement Payments³	$	52,439,000
	$	168,517,000

Smokers' Economic/Tax Profile 2002

Income¹

Rhode Island smokers' median household income	$	37,343
Rhode Island nonsmokers' median household income	$	47,121

Working Families Pay More¹

32% of Rhode Island smokers had household income LESS THAN $25,000

16% of Rhode Island smokers had household income EQUAL TO or GREATER THAN $75,000

The impact of smoker payments on the incomes of working families was more than THREE TIMES the impact on higher income smokers. Those who can afford it least pay a disproportionate percentage of their hard-earned income in smoker payments.

Smoker excise tax/sales tax/tobacco settlement payments liability in 2002⁴

Total average paid per Rhode Island smoker in excise and sales taxes	$	644
Cost per Rhode Island smoker for settlement payments to RI	$	291
Total annual payments to Rhode Island per smoker	$	935
Total annual payments to Rhode Island per nonsmoker	$	0

Rhode Island Smoker Facts ⁵

Rhode Island FY2003 smoker payments of $168.5 million were:
- Sixteen times as large as FY2003 state excise tax collections on alcoholic beverages of $10.1 million.
- More than twice as large as FY2003 business corporation revenues ($63.8 million).
- Nearly seven times as large as Rhode Island FY2003 inheritance and gift tax revenues ($24.3 million).
Rhode Island FY2003 smoker taxes supplied enough dollars to support spending (all funds) on:
- Elderly Affairs ($42.6 million) -AND- Health ($102.1 million) COMBINED
  -OR-
- State Police ($42.2 million) -AND- Environmental Management ($57.4 million) COMBINED
  -OR-
- Corrections ($142.7 million).

TOTAL SMOKER CIGARETTE PAYMENTS TO RHODE ISLAND
FY2003

Per year:	$	168,517,000
Per day:	$	461,374
Per hour:	$	19,224
Per minute:	$	320
Per second:	$	5

CIGARETTES DON'T PAY TAXES -
RHODE ISLAND SMOKERS DO!!