Cigarette tax %

In the USA, government gets 60.3 percent of the total price, while the private supply chain gets 39.7 percent. Or the total government take is 152 percent of what the private sector gets.  In Europe, the comparable numbers for government are around 80 percent, and 400 percent.

U.S. numbers are calculated from: “A cigarette pack today fetches roughly $2.50 at the factory gate, on which government collects $3.80 on average in state and federal taxes as well as payments due under the so-called Master Settlement Agreement of 1998.” — Holman Jenkins in Wall Street Journal, 2014.

In Europe, the numbers are around 80 percent, or 400 percent.   Page 7, column 8 here.

URLs:

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/documents/taxation/excise_duties/tobacco_products/rates/excise_duties-part_iii_tobacco_en.pdf

http://www.wsj.com/articles/holman-jenkins-whos-the-real-cigarette-monopolist-1405468178