Quit smoking

  Watch the U.S. quit smoking over 40 years


                   Americans consumed an average of more than 125 packs of cigarettes a year.

But the combination of higher taxes on tobacco products and more education on the

dangers of smoking has led to a precipitous decline in the number of people who light up.

Today, Americans consume just over 46 packs of cigarettes per capita every year.

                   The map-making magicians at Metric Maps used that data, from an annual

report on the tax burden of tobacco prepared by the Federation of Tax Administrators, to

show that decline on a state-by-state basis. In 1970, residents in all but two states smoked

more than 90 packs of cigarettes a year. By 2012, residents of just three states — Kentucky,

West Virginia and New Hampshire — smoke that much.

                  Today, all 50 states and the District of Columbia levy taxes on packs of cigarettes

and other tobacco products. That wasn’t always the case: Iowa instituted the first tobacco

tax, way back in 1921; that year, the state collected $324,000 in taxes. North Carolina was

 the last holdout; the Tar Heel State levied its first tax on cigarettes, 2 cents a pack, in 1969.  more >>