Tobacco.org

Tobacco taxes up, sales down 

A campaign to reduce smoking in South Dakota by sharply increasing the state tax on cigarettes appears to be working.

The state tax on a pack of cigarettes went up by $1 a pack Jan. 1, making the tax $1.53, or the 10th highest tobacco tax among all states. The tax increase was the result of a successful petition campaign by anti-smoking forces and a subsequent ballot measure that passed in November.

Michael Kenyon, who manages the collection of special taxes for the state Revenue Department, said first-quarter figures indicate 7.2 million packs of cigarettes were sold in South Dakota in that period, raising $14.1 million in revenue.

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