Border town lawmakers worry about cigarette tax increase

Some border-town state lawmakers are objecting to the governor’s proposal for a big hike in Iowa cigarette taxes. Representatives from towns like Sioux City, Council Bluffs and Davenport fear Iowans might drove to other states to buy their smokes, but we may be the beneficiary of that kind of traffic right now. Iowa’s cigarette tax, at 36-cents a pack, is lower than all but one neighboring state. South Dakota’s hiked its tax to a dollar-53 a pack, Minnesota charges one-49, and in Illinois you’ll pay 98 cents. Kansas charges 79-cents a pack, Wisconsin 77 cents, Nebraska 64…and only in Missouri is it cheaper, as voters declined last fall to raise their cigarette tax from 17-cents a pack.  But no large Iowa towns border Missouri, and shopkeepers worry their tobacco revenues will shrink if there are more states with cheap smokes their customers can drive to. Cigarette taxes by state