A new poll finds that 77 percent of Montanans support raising the state's cigarette tax by $2 per pack, with 59 percent saying they "strongly" support the increase — numbers that, if they hold, would give Helena-area legislators considerable political cover to pursue a tobacco tax hike in the next session.
Montana currently taxes cigarettes at $1.70 per pack, a cent and a half below the national average of $2.05, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Federal tax adds another $1.01 on top of that. A $2 state increase would push Montana's total state-and-federal burden on a pack of cigarettes to roughly $4.71, positioning the state well above the current national average.
The poll was conducted for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, an advocacy organization that supports higher tobacco taxes as a public health measure. Supporters of tobacco tax increases typically argue the revenue can fund health programs and that higher prices reduce smoking rates, particularly among teenagers. Opponents, including some small business owners and tobacco retailers, have argued the taxes disproportionately affect lower-income smokers and push sales to neighboring states or tribal outlets.
For Helena residents, the debate is not purely abstract — Lewis and Clark County has its own tobacco-related health metrics, and any new state revenue formula would shape how much, if any, flows back to counties for public health programming. Whether the poll numbers translate into a bill in the 2027 Legislature remains to be seen, but the margin of support — cutting across what the poll suggests is a broad cross-section of Montanans — is the kind of figure that tends to get a lawmaker's attention.