Wisconsin Information
Tobacco Taxes
Wisconsin's excise tax per pack of cigarettes: $0.770
Wisconsin's excise tax collection for the
fiscal year ending June 2002: $293,465,000
Sales tax on tobacco products: 5.00%
Federal excise tax per pack of cigarettes: $0.39
Total federal excise tax collections in fiscal year 2002: $7,512,700,000
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Who Profits from
Cigarette Sales? 
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Comparing Excise Taxes on Cigarettes, Beer and Wine
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Number of six-packs of beer that must be sold in Wisconsin to produce the same state excise tax revenue generated by one carton of cigarettes: 210.6 |
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Number of bottles of wine that must be sold in Wisconsin to produce the same state excise tax revenue generated by one carton of cigarettes: 155.5 |
Wisconsin Smokers' Contributions
to the State Economy - 2002
Wisconsin smokers comprise only 23.6%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 |
$ |
293,464,555 |
Smokers Pay Sales Taxes2 |
$ |
77,578,077 |
Smokers Pay Tobacco Settlement Payments3 |
$ |
148,265,951 |
|
$ |
519,308,583 |
Smokers' Economic/Tax Profile
Wisconsin smokers' median income 20011 |
$ |
38,625 |
- Wisconsin State Tax Liability for Median Income Smoker4
Annual state income tax liability for a couple |
$ |
2,240 |
Annual state income tax liability for a couple with two children |
$ |
2,195 |
- Smoker Excise Tax/Sales Tax/Tobacco Settlement Payments Liability5
Total average paid per Wisconsin smoker in excise and sales taxes |
$ |
391 |
Cost per Wisconsin smoker for settlement payments to Wisconsin |
$ |
156 |
Total annual payment to Wisconsin per smoker |
$ |
547 |
Wisconsin Smoker Facts6
- Wisconsin FY2002 smoker payments of $519.3 million were nearly 12 times larger than state excise taxes on alcoholic beverages in 2001 ($44.9 million).
- Smokers' payments in FY2002 were larger than state corporate net income tax collections ($495.4 million).
- The total amount paid by smokers in Wisconsin could fund projected FY2001 spending on:
- Children and Family Services ($238.6 million) OR
- The entire Natural Resources Department budget ($462.5 million) OR
- Economic and Community Development ($71.2 million) AND
Juvenile Correctional Services ($195.7 million) AND
The Wisconsin Technical College System ($181.1 million) AND
Intercollegiate athletics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison ($44.9 million).
- In 1997, smokers provided 11,052 jobs that paid an additional $16 million to the state in personal and corporate income taxes.7
TOTAL SMOKER CIGARETTE PAYMENTS TO WISCONSIN |
Per year: |
$ |
519,308,583 |
Per day: |
$ |
1,421,789 |
Per hour: |
$ |
59,241 |
Per minute: |
$ |
987 |
Per second: |
$ |
16 |
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CIGARETTES DON'T PAY TAXES -
WISCONSIN SMOKERS DO!!
- Centers for Disease Control's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2001
- Orzechowski & Walker, Arlington, Virginia; latest estimates from state revenue department
- PriceWaterhouseCooper
- State annual income tax liability from PayBreeze software of General Programming, Inc., San Jose, California, which utilizes the Exact Calculation Method.
- U.S. Census Bureau 2001 state population estimate and Centers for Disease Control's Behavioral Risk Surveillance System, 2001
- Tax and Budget Comparisons are from U.S. Census Bureau (online at www.census.gov.) and the State of Wisconsin Department of Administration State Budget Office, State of Wisconsin 2001-2003 Budget in Brief and State of Wisconsin 2001-2003 Executive Budget.
- American Economics Group, Inc., The U.S. Tobacco Industry in 1997: Its Economic Impact in the States.
Master Settlement Agreement Payments To Date
$483,185,311 has been paid to Wisconsin since the Master Settlement Agreement was signed on November 23, 1998.
A summary of Wisconsin state law is provided below
(for specific questions regarding state law, contact your legal advisor.)
Minimum Age |
Customers must be 18 years or older to purchase tobacco products.
The sale or giving of tobacco products to minors is prohibited, except in the ordinary course of employment for resale during working hours and when employed by a licensed retailer. |
Restricted Products |
Cigarettes or tobacco products including cigars, smoking tobacco, snuff, and chewing tobacco. |
Acceptable Forms of Identification |
Driver’s license or identification card containing a photograph. |
Fine/Penalty Schedule for Selling to Minors |
Violators will be subject to a fine of up to $500 for the first offense within one year, $200 - $500 and a license suspension for 3 days for the second offense within one year, $200 - $500 and a license suspension for 3-10 days for the third offense within one year, and $200 - $500 and a license suspension for 15-30 days for the fourth offense within one year.
Retailers shall provide employees with training on compliance with tobacco sales laws, including training on the penalties for a violation. The department of health and family services shall make available to any retailer on request a training program developed or approved by that department that provides the training required under this paragraph. At the completion of the training, the retailer and the employee shall sign a form provided by the department of health and family services verifying that the employee has received the training, which the retailer shall retain in the personnel file of the employee. If an employee who has not received training commits the violation, a citation may be issued only to the retailer and not the employee who has not received training. If the employee who commits the violation has received training, the employee shall also be issued a citation. |
Affirmative Defense |
A person charged with a violation has an affirmative defense if the buyer or recipient falsely represented that he or she was at least 18 years old and presented an identification card. In addition, the seller must prove that the appearance of the purchaser was such that an ordinary and prudent person would believe that the purchaser was at least 18 and that the sale was made in good faith, in reasonable reliance on the identification card. |
Minor Possession |
The purchase, attempted purchase or possession of tobacco products by minors is prohibited, except in the course of employment during working hours and when employed by a licensed retailer. The misrepresentation of age to buy tobacco products by minors is prohibited. |
Sign Requirement
 |
A sign must be posted in areas of retail establishments where cigarettes or tobacco products are sold that states that the sale of any cigarette or tobacco product to a person under 18 is unlawful under sections 134.66 and 254.92 of the Wisconsin Statutes. |
Compliance Checks |
As a condition of receiving federal substance abuse block grant funds, federal law requires the State of Wisconsin to conduct random, unannounced inspections of tobacco outlets to determine compliance rates. The Department of Health and Family Services coordinates the inspections. |
DISCLAIMER: This information summary is provided as a service of the Coalition, but is not intended to provide legal advice or analysis. These summaries are not intended to be complete representations of state law, which may contain additional rules and restrictions relating to tobacco products not mentioned in this summary, as well as retailing prohibitions related to matters including, but not limited to, state required training, minimum pack size, the sale of loose cigarettes and other restrictions. Retailers should not rely on these summaries as complete or accurate descriptions of applicable federal, state or local law. Users with questions about the law should seek the advice of counsel. Each state law is unique and possibly represents multiple legislative or regulatory acts. Local laws may differ. Check with local authorities for variations from state law. These summaries are not intended to be complete representations of state law. |
The reprinting of this information from the Coalition, does not constitute a representation or admission by RJRT that such information is accurate, complete, or a proper characterization of the laws concerned. The Coalition for Responsible Tobacco Retailing is a cooperative effort among retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers who share a common goal: to do all they can to prevent tobacco sales to minors.
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~~~~~~~~~Jeff Foxworthy on Wisconsin~~~~~~~~~
If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 18 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, you might live in Wisconsin.
If you're proud that your region makes the national news 96 nights each year because International Falls is the coldest spot in the nation, you might live in Wisconsin.
If you have ever refused to buy something because it's "too spendy", you might live in Wisconsin.
If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might live in Wisconsin.
If you instinctively walk like a penguin for five months out of the year, you might live in Wisconsin.
If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don't work there, you might live in Wisconsin.
If your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead, you might live in Wisconsin.
If you may not have actually eaten it, but you have heard of Lutefisk, you might live in Wisconsin.
If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you might live in Wisconsin.
If you have either a pet or a child named "Brett", you might live in Wisconsin.
If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Wisconsin.
If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Wisconsin.
If you know how to say Oconomowoc, Waukesha, Menomonie and Manitowoc, you might live in Wisconsin.
If you think that ketchup is a little too spicy, you might live in Wisconsin.
If every time you see moonlight on a lake, you think of a dancing bear, and you sing gently, "From the land of sky-blue waters, you might live in Wisconsin.
YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TRUE WISCONSINITE WHEN
1. Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway.
2. "Vacation" means going up north past Hwy 8 for the weekend.
3. You measure distance in hours.
4. You know several people who have hit deer more than once.
5. You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again.
6. Your whole family wears Packer Green to church on Sunday.
7. You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching.
8. You see people wearing camouflage at social events. Including weddings.
9. You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.
10. You think of the major food groups as beer, fish, and venison.
11. You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them.
12. There are 7 empty cars running in the parking lot at Mill's Fleet Farm at any given time.
13. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
14. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
15. You refer to the Packers as "we."
16 You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction.
17. You can identify a southern or eastern accent.
18. You have no problem pronouncing Lac Du Flambeau.
19. You consider Minneapolis exotic.
20. You know how to polka.
21. Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce.
22. You were unaware that there is a legal drinking age.
23. Down South to you means Iowa.
24. A brat is something you eat.
25. Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new pole shed.
26. You go out to fish fry every Friday
27. Your 4th of July picnic was moved indoors due to frost.
28. You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.
29. You find 0 degrees "a little chilly."
30. You actually understand these jokes, and you forward them to all your Wisconsin friends.
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