What is the Missouri cigarette tax per pack?

Missouri has the lowest state cigarette excise tax in the United States at just 17 cents per pack of 20. That is a fraction of the national average, which is well over $1.50 per pack, making Missouri cigarettes among the cheapest in the country.

How is Missouri alcohol tax charged?

Missouri levies alcohol excise tax per gallon at the wholesale level: about $0.06 per gallon on beer, $0.42 on wine, and $2.00 on spirits. These taxes are built into the retail price you pay rather than added at the register.

Why is Missouri's tobacco tax so low?

Missouri voters have repeatedly rejected ballot measures to raise the cigarette tax, keeping it at 17 cents per pack since 1993. The low rate makes the state a destination for cross-border tobacco buyers from higher-tax neighbors like Illinois.

Does sales tax apply on top of these excise taxes?

Yes. Missouri's general and local sales taxes apply to the final retail price of cigarettes and alcohol, on top of the embedded excise tax. This tool shows only the excise portion, not the additional sales tax at checkout.

Are spirits really taxed more than wine and beer?

Yes. Higher-alcohol products carry higher per-gallon excise rates everywhere, and Missouri follows that pattern: spirits at about $2.00 per gallon are taxed far more than beer at roughly 6 cents per gallon, reflecting their higher alcohol content.

Missouri Cigarette & Alcohol Tax Calculator

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Missouri is famous for having the lowest cigarette tax in the nation — just 17 cents a pack — and modest alcohol excise rates. These “sin taxes” are charged per pack or per gallon and built into the shelf price, so they are easy to overlook. This calculator surfaces the hidden Missouri excise tax in cigarettes, beer, wine, and spirits.

How it works

Excise tax is a flat per-unit amount, applied before sales tax:

cigarettes = $0.17 per pack of 20   (lowest in the U.S.)
beer       = $0.06 per gallon
wine       = $0.42 per gallon
spirits    = $2.00 per gallon

excise = quantity × per-unit rate

For cigarettes the unit is a pack; for alcohol the unit is a gallon. Note that Missouri general and local sales taxes still apply on top of the retail price — those are separate from the excise shown here.

Example

Buying 2 gallons of spirits:

excise = 2 × 2.00 = $4.00 in Missouri spirits excise

A carton of 10 cigarette packs:

excise = 10 × 0.17 = $1.70 in Missouri cigarette tax

Tips and notes

Because Missouri’s cigarette tax has not changed since 1993, packs here cost far less than in neighboring Illinois, which drives cross-border buying. Higher-alcohol products are taxed more per gallon, so spirits carry a much heavier excise than beer. Remember that this tool isolates the excise tax only — the cashier still adds state and local sales tax to your total.