Purpose: To offset public street cleaning and other costs related to clean up of cigarette litter, and to require tobacco companies to pay their fair share for the clean up of their product

Effective October 2009, San Francisco imposed a fee on the sale of cigarettes within City boundaries – the first of its kind in the state.

The city conducted a litter audit that shows that cigarette butts and other cigarette-related packaging account for approximately 25% of all litter. To help mitigate the cost of cleaning up this litter, the city will collect a fee of $.20 on each pack of cigarettes, to be imposed directly on the purchaser at the point of sale. The revenue from this fee will be placed in the Environment Cigarette Litter Abatement Fund, to be used for cigarette litter cleanup from sidewalks and other public spaces; fee administration, collection and enforcement; and public outreach and education.

Legal Issues:

As a regulatory fee, and not a tax, any State or City tax requirements are not applicable.

The Director of the Department of Public Health may suspend a tobacco sales permit and impose penalties if retailers do not comply.

In 2008, the City spent over $24,792,558 in public litter clean up, with cigarette related waste alone amounting to approximately $6,098,969 of the City’s annual litter removal costs.

The implementation of the fee will assist with future cigarette litter by generating an estimated $5 million annually.