A new report released Thursday by the CDC Foundation is showing early promising results from Indiana's 2025 tobacco tax increase, with data indicating that millions fewer packs of cigarettes were sold in the months following the tax hike.
According to the report from Economics for Health, the $2.00 per pack tax increase that took effect on July 1, 2025, is estimated to have resulted in approximately 12.6 million fewer packs of cigarettes sold during the final six months of 2025. Sales of e-cigarettes also declined, dropping by an estimated 8.3% during the same period.
The American Heart Association praised the findings as evidence that tax policy can be an effective tool in reducing tobacco use across the state.
"The American Heart Association is committed to bringing health and hope to everyone everywhere, which includes protecting youth from the burdens of tobacco and nicotine addiction as well as helping adult smokers quit," said Christina Cesnik, Indiana Government Relations Director for the American Heart Association. "Strategies such as tax increases and funding prevention and cessation programs have proven to be effective in reducing tobacco use time after time. This will translate into fewer heart attacks and chronic health conditions that are a direct result of tobacco use."
The report focuses on retail sales data and represents only the early results of the tax increase. Health advocates say the long-term impact on public health in Indiana will continue to be monitored in the months and years ahead.
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