HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania cigarette sales are declining, which has some lawmakers eyeing higher taxes on other tobacco products to fill the gap.

The Pennsylvania Independent reports that revenues from cigarette taxes are down 4.6% from last year, which came as a surprise to Matthew Knittel, executive director of the state’s Independent Fiscal Office, who projected closer to a 2% decrease.

Pennsylvania’s cigarette tax is $1.60 per pack, after it was increased by 25 cents in 2009. The national average, as of the start of 2013, is $1.36. 

The popularity of electronic cigarettes or roll-your-own tobacco shops may play a role, suggested Knittel, which are not a part of the state’s cigarette sales tax structure. However, “It’s nearly impossible to pin it down because there’s no public data on that,” he said.

To make up for the losing revenue stream, some lawmakers are proposing new taxes on other tobacco products. State Rep. Ed Gainey introduced a bill this year to tax smokeless tobacco and cigars, which he estimates would bring in $44 million in revenue.

“Just about everywhere in the United States people pay a state excise tax when they buy cigars, chewing tobacco, snuff or loose tobacco,” Gainey said in a memo to other state lawmakers. “Pennsylvania is one of only two states (the other is Florida) to exempt cigars from taxation and is the only state not to tax the other forms of tobacco.”