How much is the cigarette tax in North Dakota?

North Dakota charges 44 cents per pack of 20 cigarettes, one of the lowest cigarette excise taxes in the country. This is on top of the federal excise of about 1.01 dollars per pack and any general sales tax applied at the register.

What are North Dakota's alcohol excise tax rates?

North Dakota taxes beer at 16 cents per gallon, wine at roughly 50 cents per gallon, and distilled spirits at about 2.50 dollars per gallon. These per-gallon rates are paid by distributors but get passed through into the shelf price.

Is sales tax charged on top of excise tax?

Yes. Excise taxes are baked into the price before the cash register, then North Dakota's general sales tax (5% state plus any local rate) is typically applied to the full retail price including the excise. This tool focuses on the excise portion.

Why is North Dakota's tobacco tax so low?

North Dakota's 44-cent rate has not changed in decades and sits far below the national average, which is over 1.90 dollars per pack. That makes the state's cigarette excise one of the smallest line items in a pack's price compared with high-tax states.

Are these rates exact?

The per-pack and per-gallon rates reflect North Dakota's published excise schedule, but distributor markups and federal excise also affect shelf price. Use this as a close estimate of the state excise portion, not a full receipt.

North Dakota Cigarette & Alcohol Tax Calculator

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So-called “sin taxes” on tobacco and alcohol are easy to overlook because they are folded into the shelf price before you ever see a receipt. North Dakota’s excise rates are notably low compared with the national average. This calculator breaks out exactly how much North Dakota state excise tax is buried in the price of cigarettes, beer, wine, and spirits.

How it works

Excise taxes are charged per unit, not as a percentage:

Cigarettes — taxed per pack of 20. North Dakota’s rate is $0.44 per pack.
Beer — taxed per gallon at $0.16.
Wine — taxed per gallon at roughly $0.50.
Spirits — taxed per gallon at about $2.50.

The tool multiplies the rate by your quantity to get the total state excise, then compares it to the base price you enter:

excise tax = per-unit rate × quantity
total price = base price + excise tax

Because the excise is fixed per unit, its share of the final price falls as the product’s base price rises — the tax is the same on a cheap bottle as an expensive one.

Tips and example

A single pack of cigarettes carries just $0.44 in North Dakota state excise — under that of nearly every other state. A case of beer (about 2.25 gallons) carries roughly $0.36 in state beer tax. Enter the base price to see how small the state excise is as a percentage: on a $30 bottle of spirits, the per-gallon spirits tax on a standard 750 ml bottle (about 0.198 gallons) is only around $0.50.

Remember this covers only the state excise. Federal excise taxes and North Dakota’s general sales tax apply on top and are not included here.