“Sin Tax” Revenues Climb

I don’t know how or why I missed this, so my apologies to my readers who I know will appreciate this little nugget: The Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Trade and Tax Bureau has released its Fiscal Year 2009 Annual Report, showing a 41% increase (to $20.6 billion) in the amount of “sin taxes” on alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and ammunition collected by the federal government.

The bulk of the $6 billion revenue increase is the result of higher tobacco taxes coming from the Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act of 2009. Firearms and ammunition excise tax collection increased 45%, the largest yearly increase in the agency’s history.