Minnesota Cigarette Tax Increases January 1

If you made a New Year's resolution to quit smoking, this information may be enough to give you a little more incentive.

Starting January 1, 2016, the price of a pack of cigarettes sold in Minnesota will include about $3.50 in taxes. In 2015 that number was $2.90 a pack.

According to a map from the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, the average state taxes for major tobacco producing states (North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia, Virginia and Tennessee) in 2015 is 48.5 cents.

The average for non-tobacco states was $1.75.

The lowest state cigarette taxes are 17 cents in Missouri.

The state map listing did not include sales taxes, so Minnesota's tax goes up about 12 cents per pack.

The federal tax is $1.01.

Some cities also have imposed their own taxes: Chicago $1.18, New York City $1.50, Philadelphia $2 and Juneau, Alaska. $3.

The Minnesota House Research Department numbers do coincide with the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids in showing Minnesota will go from the seventh-highest cigarette tax in the country to the fifth-highest.

City officials in border towns such as Red Wing and Moorhead have told their legislators and the governor they are losing business every day.

North Dakota's cigarette tax of 44 cents is the third-lowest in the country. There is also a disparity with Minnesota's other neighbors. Their cigarette taxes in 2015 were Iowa $1.36, Wisconsin $2.52 and South Dakota $1.53.

Fifteen states have cigarette taxes under a dollar a pack.

New York has the highest state tax at $4.35. The next highest is Rhode Island at $3.75.

According to the Minnesota Department of Revenue, in 2014 all but $26 million of the $461 million generated goes to the state general coffers. The $26 million goes to a Special Revenue Fund.