Tobacco Tax

West Virginia has some of the highest tobacco use rates in the Nation.
The prevalence of:
-- Current cigarette smoking among WV adults (age 18 and older) is 25.2%.
-- Smokeless tobacco use among WV adults is 8.9%.
-- Smoking among youth is 14.4%.
-- West Virginia has the highest rate of smoking during pregnancy in the country at 25.1%.

Cigarette smoking causes:
-- An average of 4,300 annual deaths of WV adults from diseases related to cigarette smoking.
-- About 19% of all deaths (or nearly 1 in 5 deaths) of WV adults age 35 and older are caused by cigarette smoking.
-- Smoking in WV is the cause of 67% of the cancer deaths, 16% of heart disease deaths, and 70% of lung disease deaths among WV adults. 

SOURCES:
TOBACCO FREE KIDS
TRUTH INITIATIVE


The economic toll tobacco takes on human lives in West Virginia is enormous. The state spends over $900 million a year on the direct health care costs of smoking, according to the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health.

It is well documented that increasing the price of tobacco products is the single most effective strategy in reducing tobacco use, especially among youth. One way to increase the price is through excise taxes. The current West Virginia excise tax on cigarettes is $1.20 a pack. This tax remains well below the national average of $1.82 a pack. With the current tax on cigarettes West Virginia is ranked 34th among 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Northern Mariana Islands (as of July 1, 2020).