As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we depend on the generosity of individuals like you. Help us continue our work by making a tax-deductible gift today.
The Tax Foundation is the nation’s leading independent tax policy nonprofit. Since 1937, our principled research, insightful analysis, and engaged experts have informed smarter tax policy at the federal, state, and global levels. For over 80 years, our goal has remained the same: to improve lives through tax policies that lead to greater economic growth and opportunity.
Share
Tweet
Email
With revenues short of pre-pandemic projections, many states have looked to excise taxes as a way to plug revenue gaps, sometimes by raising existing tax rates (particularly on tobacco and vapor products) and other times by legalizing and taxing new markets, like sports betting and marijuana.
States often struggle with the trade-offs inherent in these so-called “sin taxes,” trying to navigate sometimes competing public health and revenue generation goals. They must also grapple with often unstable revenues and questions of how to design taxes on newly legalized markets. How, for instance, should marijuana be taxed? By price (ad valorem), like a sales tax, or by weight or potency or something else? How can policymakers put harm reduction principles into practice? What sort of revenues can policymakers expect from taxing marijuana, or what might they forgo in tax receipts with a tobacco flavor ban?
In this course, we will explore these and similar questions related to excise taxes, along with a review of the basic theory of excise taxation.
There is no transcript available for this video.
Subscribe or follow us to learn about new videos, primers, podcast episodes, and more.
TaxEDU was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Stiles-Nicholson Foundation.