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How Much Do We Pay in Taxes For These Everyday Items?

Nov. 29, 2012 12:30pm Benny Johnson

An alarming portion of the price that you pay for everyday products go directly to government coffers. Some of the worst taxes fall under the “sin tax” laws, as the IRS defines on its website:

A sin tax is used to discourage the use of products and services that could pose a risk to someone’s health, such as alcohol and cigarettes. Puritan colonists used the earliest sin taxes in this country.

So let’s begin with Cigarettes:

How Much Do We pay In Taxes For These Everyday Products?

carbonmonoxidekills.com

Pack of 20 (small)

Federal Tax Per Pack: $1.01

photoindex.com

Pack of 20 (large)

Federal Tax Per Pack: $2.11

Here is an amazing info graphic showing the amounts raised through tobacco taxes:

turbotax.com

Next is alcohol

Many alcohols are taxed at different quantities by the government. But here are some basic federal measures:

http://barsupplies.com

Barrel of Beer (31 gallons)

Federal Tax Per Barrel: $18

hotspot.com

Gallon of Wine

Federal Tax Per Gallon: $1.07 (with alcohol content below 14%)

whisky.com

Distilled spirits

Federal Tax Per Gallon Proof: $13.50

(A proof gallon is a gallon of liquid that is 100 proof, or 50% alcohol. The tax is adjusted, depending on the percentage of alcohol of the product.)

Here is an amazing info graphic showing the amounts raised through alcohol taxes:

turbotax.com

Although not a member of the aforementioned “sin taxes,” gas is nevertheless a huge source of revenue for the feds:

northernsafety.com

Gallon of Gas

Federal Tax Per Gallon: 18.40¢
State Tax Per Gallon (average): 22.26¢
Average Tax Per Gallon Nationwide: 49.05¢

northernsafety.com

Gallon of Diesel

Federal Tax Per Gallon: 24.40¢
State Tax Per Gallon (average): 23.78¢
Average Tax Per Gallon Nationwide: 54.5¢

Every state has a different statewide gas tax. Some of them are close to 40¢ a gallon! See below:

eia.gov

Here is a map averaging the local, state, and federal taxes per gallon of gas:

api.org

Here is a map averaging the local, state and federal taxes per gallon of Diesel:

api.org

These fees will net the feds nearly $37 billion every year.

The cost of your guns and ammo are increased by at least 10% because of federal law:

guns.com

Pistols and revolvers

Standard Tax On All Sales: 10%

skbdirect.com

Rifles and shotguns

Standard Tax On All Sales: 11%

ammo.com

Ammunition

Standard Tax On All Sales: 11%

Coal is also taxed by percentage:

climate-justice-now.org

According to the Internal Revenue Service Coal Excise Tax:

The tax is imposed at two rates, depending on whether the coal is from underground (deep) or surface mines. The tax on deep mined coal is the lower of $1.10 a ton or 4.4 percent of the sales price. The tax on surface mined coal is the lower of $.55 a ton or 4.4 percent of the sales price.

Vaccines

thechart.blogs.cnn.com

Standard Tax On All Doses of Vaccine: 75¢

The tax is $.75 per dose of each taxable vaccine. The tax per dose on a vaccine that contains more than one taxable vaccine is $.75 times the number of taxable vaccines.

The Vaccines Taxed: Tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis A & B, gastroenteritis, HIB, influenza, chicken pox, meningococcal, human papillomavirus and many, many more.

Sport fishing equipment

southfloridasailfishseries.com

The IRS does not like fishermen:

A tax of 10% of the sale price is imposed on many articles of sport fishing equipment sold by the manufacturer. This includes any parts or accessories sold on or in connection with the sale of those articles.

Standard Tax On All Sales: 10%

outboardmotoroilblog.com

Outboard Motors

Standard Tax On All Sales: 3%

Bows and arrows

http://blogs.courierpostonline.com/

Bows, Quivers, Broadheads, and Points

Standard Tax On All Sales: 11%

*Just a friendly reminder, these taxes are added into the cost of the product. The product then typically gets a sales tax added on top of it along with any other taxes a particular state enforces (for instance).

You can check out where we compiled all this information at the IRS website and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau resource site.

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

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Comments (47)

Paool
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:56pm
Sorry, forgot what the article was about when I saw the busty lass with the bow.
*picks up jaw*
It is always interesting to look at these kind of statistics though. First off, makes me glad to live in TX (lower to midrange on at least the state taxes across the board.) Secondly, it’s funny how you don’t even realize how much your getting screwed until someone shows you the pictures.

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paulwbrown
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:04am
If you have ever seen the Popeye movie you may remember the tax collector on the three wheel bike who was collecting taxes on every possible event. Well, we are just about at that same level of absurdity. Stop the spending!

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1776boy
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 3:10am
Tax and spend Tax and spend Tax and spend !!!!!!!

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F_Obama
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 11:00pm
Here’s another picture of the girl with the bow. Easy to find when you put the image address in google image search. :)
http://media.photobucket.com/image/recent/WeBpIrAtE_photos/bowhunting.jpg

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DILLIGAF-26
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 10:56pm
I am not so sure this story is correct. Taking the taxes on fuel per gallon. Do we really only pay 49 cents/gallon? What is your salary? What then is your take-home pay after taxes? Is your salary part of a companies costs? What about the vehicles the company uses to transport people and equipment. They paid some taxes on them and then you have to insure/have inspected/maintain/licence them and if DOT then several other fees and taxes are tacked on. What about the cost of the steel used to make the drill rig, pipeline,drill stem, etc. Cost of electricity or fuel to power the equipment. The list goes on, and they all drive the sell price of gas or whatever product that is being manufactured. All the way down the line to where the minerals are pulled from the soil and smelted. US companies all pay something to the government and so do their employees.

I think we are paying more than 49 cents/gal.

Since I have 572 characters remaining I would like to say that lady archer-er has almost perfect form. Elbow up, back straight, fingers at cheek, left arm straight. Yep…real good form. Wonder if the Blaze will do a study on how many archer responses there were on a thread about taxes. BTW…much more classy than the yellow car gal. My 2 cents + the governments 13 cent taxes = 15 cents

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- loriann12
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 8:35am
  First, the archer gal has a lot of silicone, but I could just be jealous….my silicone comes out at night.
  
  Second, what you’re talking about is something else they wanted to do, a value added tax, where every step of production was taxed. They think the businessmen will just absorb the extra taxes and pay like good little citizens, just lower their standard of living. I’m sorry, but if I ever started a business, the whole idea would be to live very comfortably. If you take that away, there will be no business owners.
  
  Report this comment
- tajloc
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:29am
  I guess its too late for the “Fairtax.”
  oh well
  Rom 8:28
  
  Report this comment
Balpit
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 8:07pm
I remember when I was younger, they were encouraging voters to vote yes for a price hike on cigarettes, promising the extra revenue would go towards helping schools. Our schools have really improved since, haven’t they?

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- Old Ogre
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 3:33pm
  I remember when the states sued the tobacco companies and promised some of it would go toward the health care of those of us who were young and dumb enough to get addicted. Now we don’t have a right to sue and no help from the states. That is a huge tax and penalty!
  
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GuruMeditation
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 7:32pm
We should all just quit paying taxes. And I must say… That is one SMOKIN’ archery picture!

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mtnvortex
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 6:10pm
I too, have a sudden urge to go bow-hunting…Mmmmmm.

I am a bad man.

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- GuruMeditation
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 7:33pm
  I hear ya! MmmMmmm.
  
  Report this comment
tankyjo
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 5:47pm
Good story no real surprise, but America needs to learn that govt is the greatest profiteer in almost any private industry. AND govt is about to lop the head off the golden goose.

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- revelation2012
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 8:16pm
  the ‘beast’
  
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South Philly Boy
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 5:45pm
I call them BLOOD SUCKERS

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Rocky_biskit
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 4:17pm
Not that I ever disliked Archery, I now have a new found fondness for it!!! hmmm … time to get the compound bow out!!!!

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Nevermind
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 3:33pm
kaydeebeau

So let me see if I understand the leftist position – smoking cigarettes is bad but smoking pot is ok. We should close our eyes to the dangers of smoking IF you are smoking pot but we are supposed to be outraged by cigarettes?
*****

Quite simple, cigarettes kill thousands of people a year while marijuana kills noone. It is impossible to ingest enough to OD ( i think you would have to use 16 pounds in a 24 hour period ) while all you need to do is smoke cigarettes and they usually kill 1/3 of its users just by normal consumption.

The outrage is that one product is legal yet kills thousands a year while the other is illegal and doesnt kill a single person. The only reason pot is outlawed is becasue they cant fiure out a way to tax it . If you make it legal one would say ” they could sell it in stores and tax it there” but i would say if it is legal i could grow it myself and avoid any taxes or real cost. So until Uncle Sam can figure out how to tax it it remains illegal and that is the outrage.

IMO all drugs shoudl be legal and free to use if you are 18 or older. If you want ot slam herion until you OD and die, fine by me.

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- Balpit
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 8:03pm
  Stoned drivers have killed people.
  
  Report this comment
DTR
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 1:53pm
Now imagine for a minute how much revenue the government would generate on legalized marijuana….

For the record, do I smoke it? No, it’s illegal. Should it be legal? Yes. Would I smoke it if it was legal? Yes. Do I advocate for legalizing pot? Not even a little. So please don’t start lynching me for making a simple statement.

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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 2:03pm
  You are quite correct in your observation.
  
  And for the record, I *do* advocate for legalizing marijuana. In fact, I want the whole idiotic War On Drugs done away with.
  
  Report this comment
- DTR
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 2:16pm
  I totally agree with ending the abysmal failure that is the US War on Drugs. I *DO* advocate for ending useless spending and the countless billions of dollars wasted every single year since it started in 1971 is VERY wasteful. The reason I don’t actively advocate for legalizing pot is because there are far better things to focus my attention to in this country (like the aforementioned).
  
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- longknifed
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 2:58pm
  There is a black market for everything. The most smuggled product in the world is legal in every country on earth – the cigarette. It would be best not to have pot thrift shops, but rather the same sleazy ratlines without corrupt enforcement pretending to slow it down. At least it wouldn’t be mainstreamed and this degeneracy can go back to where it came 80 years ago when only losers smoked pot.
  
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- VRW Conspirator
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 3:28pm
  Legalize the drugs…
  Make you go to a Pharmacy to pick them up….and no insurance will not pay for it…even those that claim they use it for pain or other crap like headaches…
  TAX the hell out of it…at least as much or more than tobacco and alcohol…
  Put huge fines and penalties and imprisonment for those that drive, operate machinery, sell illegally, or cause harm while under the influence… like DUI and DWI laws but stronger and more severe…
  Use 100% of the tax revenue gained to pay off the National Debt…make it by LAW!!… or pay it into the Medicare/Medicaid fund…and let States do the same with their state taxes is they choose…and Congress can NEVER prevent, divert, or change where the money goes or borrow against it or raid the trust fund like they did with SS even though that was also illegal…but they did it…
  
  i don’t care what you do in your home…once you hit the public streets..once you are behind the wheel… you get a dark hole in a nameless prison for all eternity…
  
  Report this comment
- varptr
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 3:40pm
  See, as a third world day worker you would instantly benefit from the analgesia and your 10% loss in IQ from smoking pot. I too would benefit, I could then farm hemp, make paper, diesel and chemical feedstocks, while the tobacco companies would have a grand new product. Being a feared drug, of course, we would expect sales subject to alcohol rules and with the corresponding higher taxes, secret additives, and packaging protections with little phrases like: “Known to cause cancer in bats, brain damage in hogs, loss of control in rabbit reproduction, permanently slower cognitive responses in flying squirrels, etc.” And then we could all be entertained by those sneaky, addictive government films showing flying squirrels and inner city youth bashing themselves into trees, lamp posts, and school buses (replete with comic but inappropriate eye movements and rants about how the stuff is perfectly safe (rimshot!).
  
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- DTR
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 4:23pm
  I would tax it at least as much as cigarettes, but I would also make it extremely easy to sell. Imagine all of the dealers that would be entrepreneurs overnight and thus would be filing 1099′s every year. It would be a huge economic boost. Plus, that will keep companies like Marlboro and Lucky Strike from putting the same crap in it as they do cigarettes. If they did, no one would buy their new product. They would buy from the local dealer down the road or just grow it themselves. I’d say get a license to sell (again very easy to obtain) or no permits required simply to grow your own.
  
  Report this comment
kaydeebeau
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 1:49pm
So let me see if I understand the leftist position – smoking cigarettes is bad but smoking pot is ok. We should close our eyes to the dangers of smoking IF you are smoking pot but we are supposed to be outraged by cigarettes?

Well let’s be thankful for double standards – since if it weren;t for double standards the leftist would have no standards at all (yes I do reakuze that the concept of leftist and standard is an oxymoron)

So I am suppossed ti believe that smoking the natural substane of marijuana is not as bad as the natural substance of tobacco?

Really? REALLY?????

If smoking is bad – it doesn’t matter that which is smoked – however – I am of the opinion if youwant to smole – go for it – however – you will suffer (or not) without public assistance. the consequences of your choices

See, here is the issue I have with the aPaulogist. OK fine lets just legalze everything. I have no problem with that. however until we are willing to let those who make bad choices live with those consequences – in other words if you are a stoned deadbeat who can’t hold down a job – you can starve and be homeless as a result of your “freedom” to be a pot head. Again – let me repeat – if you want to do drugs, have unprotected sex, get diseases and all manner of awefulness – so be it. don’t expect the rest of us to take care of you in your time of illness or hardship.

You can’t have it both ways – chose immoral behavior and be willing to live wtih the consequ

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goahead.makemyday
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 1:24pm
Bow hunting with red fingernail polish. THAT is the making of a really fine woman, (at least in my opinion) and if she can out shoot me all the better. That is the type of woman I wish I had for a girlfriend. Okay Taxes, Taxes, Taxes. What will it take for an amendment get placed on the General Ballot? You know like one that confines the gov’ts powers to ONLY those in the enumerated powers?

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- Balrog28
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 1:43pm
  Didn’t notice the red fingernails
  
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- goahead.makemyday
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 2:00pm
  Yep if there is a picture of a person I look at the hands, you can tell a lot of things about people by their hands. In this picture she is holding the bow correctly so she’s obviously proficient or at least familiar in it’s use. The red polish means she’s confident and has a good self image and she’s obviously not ashamed of her body. Besides that bow probably has around a 60 lb pull weight on it, put with the gear on the walls behind her the family is into hunting I believe mostly bow hunting. That means they most likely live in a more rural area, the green oak out the window rules out most of the mid west. That leaves mostly the south east of Texas of course more rural areas around Indiana and Ohio and some south Michigan areas are also applicable. However with the sweater shirt I doubt below mid Georgia and the belt more southern than the northern states.
  
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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 2:00pm
  She has fingernails?
  
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- Citizen_Joe
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 2:05pm
  She had fingernails?
  
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doomytram
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 1:11pm
She where’s that sweater well. Archery Lessons Please

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- Kalish
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 1:30pm
  People think it is their duty to pay all these taxes, they do not relize they are being stolen from, there needs to be a small amount of taxes payed, but we crossed that line a long time ago….
  
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- Dismayed Veteran
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 1:35pm
  I want archery lessons, NOW
  
  Report this comment
redsred
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 1:10pm
finally…a blaze article with real info. no spin, no twist, no hype, no exaggeration, no “hook” headline.
too bad they can’t do more actual news and info.

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- OBUMAURMAMA
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 1:32pm
  You can always get your unbiased news from WhiteHouse.gov or the page for all Dems. CPUSA.org.
  They along with MSNBC, Politico and 30 various sites of the Soros media empire will give you the truth Blaze won’t.
  
  Report this comment
jackact
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 1:05pm
I guess we have become anesthetized by political correctness but it should be mentioned that the most exhorbitant and uneccessary tax that all (federal income taxpayers) are FORCED to pay is our public school tax bill.
At least with cigarettes and alcohol purchases we obtain a product.
Public school remains a devastating failure nationally.
“We the People” have no seat at this table and the US department of education refuses to assume any accountability for the dumbing down and political indoctrination of our young and impressionable children.
Oh, and that tax increases between 2-3% annually.
We must repeal the 10th amendment and re-institute states rights.
We will save enough money to buy all the items on the above list and our children will grow up to pursue productive careers outside the tentacles of government employment.

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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 1:12pm
  I’m fairly certain that if you repeal the 10th Amendment, you won’t re-establish state’s rights.
  
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- jackact
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 2:09pm
  16th…sorry
  
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LakewoodEd
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 12:57pm
If we could strip away ALL hidden and evident taxes and replace them with a consumption tax, then everyone would know what the true cost of government was.

http://www.fairtax.org

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Balrog28
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 12:52pm
Thanks for the pic of the archer – who put this story together again? Benny – you bad boy! LOL

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- 4738774
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 12:59pm
  No kidding. You couldn’t put that first?
  
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GhostOfJefferson
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 12:43pm
It was difficult to reply to this thread, due to my sudden, deep and abiding interest in archery!

This article is actually factually wrong. They are only considering the end user tax. If you add in the taxes and costs to cover taxes of *any* item, you’ll find that most items cost at least 40 to 50% in taxes.

Now, back to archery! Woot!

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Gary_K
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 12:41pm
If the average citizen knew the real cost of taxes on everything they buy there would be a revolt.

Thats why so many taxes are hidden, like the corporate tax.

No business pays taxes, these costs are passed on to us.

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- DougHuffman
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 12:50pm
  “Hidden taxes”? D’you mean like Dumb Basses getting “tax refunds” of their over-payments returned less interest earned – given blissfully to the Leviathan?
  
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- Gary_K
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 3:12pm
  DougHuffman
  
  No. Like these… http://money.msn.com/tax-planning/hidden-taxes-you-pay-every-day.aspx
  
  Report this comment
Mattsbay18
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 12:36pm
The map averaging the local, state, and federal taxes per gallon of gas reminds me a lot of this year’s electoral map.

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