Illinois Action Center

RAISING ILLINOIS' CIGARETTE TAX IS GOOD PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY

PUT PUBLIC HEALTH FIRST!

Tobacco is responsible for more than 400,000 deaths in the United States each year, including at least 30 percent of all cancer deaths and 87 percent of all lung cancer deaths. Tobacco-related disease costs our nation more than $193 billion in medical care and productivity losses each year and remains the nation's most preventable cause of death.

Currently, there are more than 1.8 million adult smokers in Illinois. The statistics for youth are even more troubling - 18.1% (133,500) percent of high school students are smokers. Every year, more than 19,000 children in Illinois become new daily smokers, and 317,000 children currently alive in Illinois who continue to smoke will eventually die prematurely from smoking related diseases. 

 Illinois Can Do Better!

By increasing Illinois' cigarette tax we can save lives, reduce health care costs and generate much-needed revenue. Evidence clearly shows that raising tobacco tax rates encourages tobacco users to quit or cut down and prevents kids from ever starting to smoke.

 Benefits from a $1 per pack Tax Increase:

• 77, 600 kids in Illinois will be prevented from becoming smokers 
• 59,400 adult smokers in Illinois will quit
• 59,200 current Illinois residents will be saved from premature death caused by smoking
• Illinois' current state cigarette tax is 98 cents per pack (32^nd among states)
• $4.10 Billion in annual health care costs are attributable to smoking in Illinois
• $4.35 Billion is lost annually in Illinois attributable to productivity lost from smoking
• $377 Million in increased revenue in the first year from raising cigarette taxes by $1.00 per pack
• Since 2000, 46 states and the District of Columbia have raised their cigarette tax in more than 90 separate increases.  Currently, 14 states and the District of Columbia have a cigarette tax rate of at least $2.00