Fi 



iscal contributors 



More than 45,000 retailers throughout the state serve 

 tobacco consumers. Included are automatic merchandis- 

 ing machines, clubs and canteens. Taxes take 50 percent 

 (more in some local communities ) of the cost to a buyer 

 of cigarettes. The federal share is 8 cents a package; 

 the state tax is now 12 cents. A use tax also applies in 

 Massachusetts. 



A state tax of 2 cents per package of cigarettes be- 

 came effective in September 1939. It was a "temporary" 

 excise, to expire in 1941. The Supreme Judicial Court 

 of Massachusetts was petitioned by an interested group 

 for a referendum on the tax, a petition denied on tech- 

 nical grounds. Since the inception of the cigarette tax 

 (increased six times since 1945) the total gross yield 

 to the state treasury has been in the area of $983 million. 



The development of tobacco agriculture to its present 

 status in Massachusetts was not achieved without diffi- 

 culty. As it progressed, together with a growing com- 

 merce in tobacco, it became of increasing value to the 

 state's economy. Both segments provide an interesting 

 part of the long record of America's industrial history. 



14 



