Americans armed themselves to the teeth and paid through the nose to have a smoke, according to a U.S. government report released on Wednesday.
The U.S. federal government collected $20.6 billion in taxes on alcohol, tobacco, firearms and ammunition in fiscal year 2009, up 41 percent from the previous fiscal year, according to the annual report of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.
Part of the U.S. Treasury Department, the TTB credited most of the $6 billion rise in revenues collected to the increased taxes on the tobacco industry as a result of the Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act passed in February 2009.
Full Story: U.S. pockets $20.6 bln in sin taxes in FY’09 | Reuters
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