Pennsylvania’s cigarette tax to rise by $1 per pack Aug. 1

Cigarette taxes are on the way up in Pennsylvania.

Starting Aug. 1, Pennsylvania’s newly enacted budget package means that the per-pack tax on cigarettes will rise by $1 to $2.60. Counting a $2 per-pack tax added in Philadelphia in 2014 to help fund the city’s schools, and the per-pack cigarette tax in Philadelphia will be $4.60.

That means Pennsylvania’s cigarette tax will go from tied for the nation’s 23rd highest with Ohio and Delaware to the nation’s 10th highest cigarette tax. Philadelphia’s tax will be the seventh-highest tax when combining local and state taxes. Chicago is No. 1 at $6.16 per pack.

That’s according to the Washington, D.C.-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

The tax is supposed to generate about $430 million dollars to help balance the state’s budget.