A standard 20-cigarette pack in North Carolina carries $0.45 in state excise tax and about $1.01 in federal excise tax, for roughly $1.46 in excise taxes built into the shelf price before state and local sales tax is added at the register. That combined sales tax runs between 6.75% and 7.50% depending on the county. On a pack priced around $7.00, the total tax load — state excise, federal excise, and sales tax together — comes to roughly $1.95. North Carolina’s cigarette tax per pack is one of the lowest in the country.
The State Excise Rate
North Carolina sets its cigarette excise tax at 2.25 cents per individual cigarette under G.S. 105-113.5.1North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code Chapter 105-113.5 – Tax on Cigarettes A 20-count pack works out to $0.45. A 25-count pack comes to $0.5625. The formula never changes: the per-cigarette rate multiplied by the number of cigarettes in the container.
This is a unit tax, not a percentage of the price, so it stays the same in dollar terms whether the brand is a premium label or a value brand. Licensed distributors owe the tax when they sell or hold cigarettes for sale within the state, and the cost is folded into the wholesale price well before a pack reaches a shelf. You never see it as a separate line.
The Federal Excise Layer
Every pack sold anywhere in the United States also carries a federal excise tax of $50.33 per 1,000 small cigarettes, which comes to about $1.0066 per 20-pack.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 5701 – Rate of Tax Manufacturers pay this before the product leaves the factory, and distributors recover it through the wholesale price. Large cigarettes, defined as those weighing more than three pounds per thousand, are taxed at $105.69 per thousand, but nearly every consumer pack is a small cigarette.
Add the federal and state excise together and the baked-in tax load on a standard pack in North Carolina is approximately $1.46. That amount is already in the sticker price when you walk up to the counter.
Sales Tax at the Register
North Carolina’s 4.75% state sales tax applies to cigarette purchases on top of the excise amounts already embedded in the price.3North Carolina Department of Revenue. Current Sales and Use Tax Rates Each county layers its own local sales tax on top, pushing the combined rate at checkout to somewhere between 6.75% and 7.50%. Alamance County, for example, collects 6.75%; Durham County collects 7.50%.
Because sales tax is calculated on the full retail price, and that retail price already contains the excise taxes, you end up paying tax on tax. On a pack priced at $7.00, a 7% combined sales tax adds about $0.49. Add that to the $1.46 in excise and the total tax on that single pack lands near $1.95.
How North Carolina Stacks Up Nationally
At $0.45 per pack, North Carolina’s state excise sits far below the national average of roughly $1.97. Only a few states charge less; Missouri’s $0.17 is the lowest in the country. On the other end, New York charges $5.35 per pack. North Carolina’s rate hasn’t moved in many years, and no significant increase has been on the table recently.
The practical effect is that a pack bought in North Carolina costs noticeably less than in most neighboring states or large metro areas elsewhere. The price gap has driven cross-border purchasing for years and remains a sticking point between public health groups pushing for higher tobacco taxes and lawmakers reluctant to raise consumer prices.
If You’re Buying Something Other Than Cigarettes
The $0.45 figure applies only to cigarettes. Other tobacco and vapor products are taxed under a separate schedule in G.S. 105-113.36A, mostly as a percentage of cost price or by weight or volume rather than per unit.4North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code Chapter 105 – Article 2A Tobacco Products Tax Cigars are taxed at 12.8% of cost price with a 30-cent-per-cigar cap. Snuff is 40 cents per ounce. Vapor products are 5 cents per milliliter of consumable liquid. Most other tobacco products fall under a general 12.8% rate. All of these also carry the same state and local sales tax that applies to cigarettes.
So if you walked away from a convenience store counter wondering what portion of your receipt went to taxes, the answer for a 20-pack is roughly $1.46 in excise built into the price plus whatever your county’s sales tax rate adds on top.