use may be the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States (1). prevent and reduce illicit trade (4 5 This report describes state laws governing tax PRT062607 HCL stamps on smokes little cigars (cigarette-sized cigars) roll-your-own tobacco (RYOT) and tribal tobacco sales across the United States as of January 1 2014 and assesses the extent of comprehensive tobacco tax stamping in the United States. Forty-four says (including the District of Columbia [DC]) applied traditional paper (“low-tech”) tax stamps to smokes whereas four authorized more effective high-tech stamps. Six says explicitly required stamps on other tobacco products (i.e. tobacco products other than smokes) and in approximately one third of says with tribal lands tribes required tax stamping to address illicit purchases by nonmembers. No U.S. state had a comprehensive approach to PRT062607 HCL tobacco tax stamping. Enhancing tobacco tax stamping across the country might further prevent and reduce illicit trade in the United States. The Tobacconomics Program* examined state statutes and regulations and for PRT062607 PRT062607 HCL HCL tribal tobacco sales relevant agency opinions and case legislation under a cooperative agreement funded by the National Cancer Institute as part of its State and Community Tobacco Control Initiative 2011 State laws were compiled through primary legal research using the Westlaw and Lexis-Nexis commercial legal research services. Where possible state law data were verified against publicly available secondary sources including CDC’s State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation system ? which provides current and historical state-level data on tobacco use prevention and control including cigarette stamping. Clarification of codified legislation was sought through state or federal case law Attorneys General opinions and notices or rulings from says’ departments of revenue. Excluded from the tribal sales research were state laws that made general reference to tobacco sales without explicit reference to tribes or application to tribal sales by case legislation Attorneys General opinions or departments of revenue notices; also excluded were tribal codes tax agreements or compacts not codified by the state (i.e. individual tribe-specific codes and guidelines). As of January 1 2014 a total of 48 says (including DC) applied cigarette tax stamps. Only four of these PRT062607 HCL authorized the use of high-tech stamps. Three of these four says (California Massachusetts and Michigan) have implemented their use; New Jersey has not (Table). Of the 17 says that taxed little cigars at an amount equivalent to smokes which makes them subject to RNF49 stamping only five of these says’ laws explicitly required stamps on little cigars. Of the five says that taxed RYOT as smokes which makes them subject to stamping only two explicitly required stamps on RYOT (Table Figure 1). Physique 1 TABLE Says with laws requiring tax stamps on smokes little cigars (LC) roll-your-own tobacco (RYOT) and tribal tobacco – United States January 1 2014 Although Native American tribes within the United States are guarded by sovereign immunity and says do not have legal authority over tribes within their borders agreements such as ones to regulate tobacco sales may be negotiated. Thirty-four says have federal reservation land within their borders. Of these 20 regulated tribal tobacco sales as of January 1 2014 13 of which explicitly resolved stamping of products sold on-reservation (Table Figure 2). Of those 13 nine required stamps on all smokes or tobacco products sold on-reservation and four only required stamps on products sold to nonmembers of the tribe or on all products sold by tribes without tax agreements with the state. Figure 2 Discussion This report indicates that although the majority of says required low-tech cigarette tax stamps as of January 1 2014 few were using high-tech stamps applying stamps to other tobacco products or working with tribes on stamping agreements. Depending on analytical approaches and definitions of illicit trade it is estimated that 8%-21% of smokes consumed in the United States are purchased illicitly (4). These PRT062607 HCL illicit purchases undermine tobacco control efforts (2) might contribute to health disparities (4) and reduce local and state revenues by billions of dollars.