By Ben Margiott, News 4
July 10, 2026- Advocates with the American Cancer Society this week called on Nevada lawmakers to raise the tax on cigarettes by $1.75 per pack and also raise taxes on e-cigarettes, vapes, cigars and nicotine pouches.
The state cigarette tax, which currently is $1.80 per pack, ranks 26th among all U.S. states and Washington D.C.
Nearly doubling the current cigarette tax to $3.55 per pack would generate an estimated $51 million in additional revenue annually, improve public health outcomes and prevent youth addiction, according to the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
“It’s going to raise revenue and it’s going to help those public health outcomes. So we see this as a way for Nevada to do a lot of different projects, raise revenue, and help people at the same time,” said Jennifer Atlas, the government affairs director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
They’re also urging legislators to raise taxes on e-cigarettes, vapes, nicotine pouches and cigars from 30% to 47%. Combined, the two tax proposals are estimated to generate over $65 million in additional state revenue per year.
However, Atlas told News 4-Fox 11 the greater societal benefit is the reduction and prevention of smoking. She said while data shows that small increases to cigarette taxes have minimal effects on tobacco use, more drastic increases force people to quit and prevent people from smoking in the first place.
“The data shows that when the tax increases, people do tend to quit smoking … and we’re trying to prevent them also from moving to a different tobacco product. That’s where the parity part comes in. We don’t want them going from a pack of cigarettes to potentially vaping or some other type of tobacco use,” Atlas aid.
Activists made their pitch Wednesday to the Nevada legislature’s interim committee on revenue, which meets between regular sessions. The regular 2027 legislative session begins on Feb. 1.
Atlas said their goal is to have the Senate Revenue and Economic Development committee sponsor the measure. It would need to pass with two-thirds approval in both chambers in order to head to the governor’s desk because it raises revenue.
