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Ezel / Tax Rulings / CT
CT Ruling 89-157 Tobacco Products Tax 1989-10-26

Did Connecticut's tobacco products tax apply to every cigar, including one not yet prepared or aged enough to be suitable for smoking?

Short answer: No under this historical ruling. The tax applied to cigars prepared so they were suitable for smoking, not cigars that were not yet suitable. Whether aging made a cigar suitable was factual and required satisfactory data on cigar type and necessary aging time.

Apply this to your situation

This page answers the general question as of 1989. Ezel answers yours, under current Connecticut tax law, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 1989
Subsequent statutory amendments, regulation changes, court decisions, or later rulings may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current tax advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, rate, or position mentioned here.
Disclaimer: This is an official 1989 Connecticut Department of Revenue Services Ruling interpreting the tobacco products tax then in effect. Its conclusion depended on whether a cigar was prepared and sufficiently aged to be suitable for smoking, which DRS treated as a factual question requiring product and aging data; another cigar or current statute may produce a different result. This summary is informational only and is not legal or tax advice. Consult a licensed Connecticut tax professional about your specific situation.
About this page: The plain-English summary, reader guidance, and Q&A below were written by Ezel based on the official state tax ruling. The original ruling (linked on this page as a PDF) is the authoritative source for any reliance.
View original ruling (PDF)

Plain-English summary

DRS read the statutory phrase requiring tobacco products to be prepared so they were suitable for chewing or smoking as modifying every listed product, including cigars.

The tax therefore applied to cigars prepared so they were suitable for smoking, but not to cigars that were not yet so prepared. Whether a cigar met that condition was factual. DRS required satisfactory data about the cigar type that needed aging and the time needed to make it suitable for smoking.

What this means for you

The historical ruling did not tax a cigar merely because it was a cigar; preparation and smoking suitability mattered.

Common questions

Were all cigars taxable? No under the ruling.

Which cigars were taxable? Those prepared so they were suitable for smoking.

What evidence did DRS require? Data on the cigar type and the aging period needed for smoking suitability.

Citations and references

  • Public Act 89-251, § 24, as cited in the ruling.
  • Sutherland Statutory Construction § 47.15 (4th ed.), as cited in the ruling.

Source

Original ruling text

Ruling 89-157, Tobacco Products Tax

Ruling 89-157

Tobacco Products Tax

It is the Department's position that all tobacco products specified in section 24 of Public Act 89-251 must be "prepared in such manner as to be suitable for chewing or smoking in a pipe or otherwise or for both chewing and smoking." The placement of a comma just before this excerpted phrase is an indication of legislative intent that the phrase modify not merely the word immediately preceding it, but all the specified types of tobacco products (including cigars) preceding it. "[A]n act should be read as punctuated unless there is some reason to do otherwise." Sutherland Stat. Const. § 47.15 (4th Ed.).

Consequently, the tobacco products tax is, in the Department's opinion, imposed on, inter alia, "cigars ... prepared in such manner as to be suitable for ... smoking"; and not on cigars not so prepared.

Whether cigars are so prepared is a question of fact. Data satisfactory to the Department will need to be submitted concerning the type of cigar that must be aged to be suitable for smoking. Furthermore, data regarding the period of time required to provide the aging necessary to make a cigar suitable for smoking must be submitted.

LEGAL DIVISION

October 26, 1989

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