Over the last couple of years, you’d have had to be locked in one of the salt domes down in Perry County not to know that Mississippi’s cigarette tax is the third-lowest in the nation at 18 cents per pack — ranking the state 47th among the states and far below the national average of $1 per pack.

So one might conclude that if Mississippi’s cigarette taxes are among the lowest in the country, the state’s gas taxes would follow suit. Right?

Wrong.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that the national average tax on gasoline is 43.3 cents per gallon as of Dec. 31, 2006. The federal tax on gasoline is 18.4 cents per gallon. The average state gasoline excise tax is 19.98 cents per gallon.



33rd in gas taxes



How does Mississippi stack up in gas tax rankings? With the state’s 18.4 cents per gallon tax on gasoline, the state ranks 33rd in the nation in gas excise taxes.

Let’s repeat. The national average state gas excise tax is 19.98 cents per gallon while Mississippi’s state gas excise tax is 18.4 cents per gallon — a difference of a penny and a half or 7.6 percent less than the national average.

But the national average state cigarette excise tax is $1 per pack while Mississippi’s cigarette excise tax is 18 cents per pack — a difference of 72 cents per pack or 72 percent less than the national average.

Therefore, the priority of Mississippi government — Gov. Haley Barbour the lead dog and his lapdogs in the state Senate chief among them — is that we keep the 4-out-of-4 Mississippians who must purchase gasoline to get to work, school and church paying within 7 percent of the national average gasoline tax so that we can protect the apparent divine right of the 1-in-4 Mississippians who smoke to pay 72 percent less in tobacco taxes than other Americans.

If Mississippi’s gasoline excise tax rate was equalized with the state’s cigarette excise tax rate at 72 percent less than the national average, this state’s gasoline excise tax rate would drop from the current 18.4 cents a gallon to 3.56 cents per gallon — or a drop of almost 15 cents per gallon at the pumps.



47th in cig taxes



If there is any logic or fiscal responsibility in a state artificially keeping cigarette taxes almost 10 times lower than gasoline taxes, it’s lost on this writer.

If Mississippi’s cigarette excise tax rate was equalized with the state’s gasoline excise tax rate at 7.6 percent less than the national average, this state’s cigarette excise tax rate would increase from the current 18 cents per pack to 76 cents per pack — an increase of 58 cents per pack at the pumps.

Gasoline is a necessity that must be purchased by virtually all Mississippi families and businesses. Cigarettes aren’t.

So just why is the Mississippi Legislature bound and determined in this election year to keep cigarette taxes 72 percent lower than the national average and gasoline taxes within 7.6 percent of the national average?

As the 2007 elections approach, that’s a question I’ll be asking in the legislative districts where I live and vote. That’s a question that should be posed to every candidate for the Legislature in 2007.

And next time you fill up, think about who’s subsidizing whom at the gas pumps while we keep Mississippi’s cigarette prices low.



Contact Sid Salter at

(601) 961-7084 or e-mail ssalter@clarionledger.com. Visit his blog at clarionledger.com/misc/ blogs/ssalter/sidblog.html