We are currently fighting for your business!
As all cigar brick and mortar companies know, the current and outrageous tax on any cigar is 50% per cigar! This unrealistic tax makes it impossible to be competitive with other states or online venues unless cigar store owners are willing to take a loss after considering business overhead. This is an unsustainable business model forced upon cigar store owners by antiquated tax code. This tax was enacted during the 1957 Montana Legislative Session and, 65 years later, it has never been revisited. The State does seem willing to adapt to the current cigar market. During the 2015 Montana Legislative Session, the cigarette industry was able to effectively negotiate their tax down to $0.075 per cigarette. The MCA has employed lobbyists in Helena fighting for cigar enthusiasts and store owners, with the goal to reduce the cigar tax from 50% per cigar down to 50% per cigar NOT TO EXCEED $0.10 per cigar.
The MCA has performed extensive research on other states such as Arkansas, Connecticut, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin and Virginia, each of which have adopted a tax structure providing similar cigar tax relief to what we hope to accomplish in Montana.