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Excise taxes are taxes required on specific goods or services like fuel, tobacco, and alcohol. They are primarily taxes that must be paid by businesses, usually increasing prices for consumers indirectly. Excise taxes can be ad valorem (paid by percentage) or specific (cost charged by unit).

Many excise taxes go into trust funds for projects related to the taxed product or service, such as highway and airport improvements. Excise taxes are independent of income taxes. Often, the retailer, manufacturer or importer must pay the excise tax to the IRS and file the Form 720.

In the short run, an excise tax increases the price of the product, albeit by less than the full amount of the tax, and the price burden is shared by both the producers and the consumers. The exact effect depends on the elas- ticities of demand and supply for the product.

The primary function of these duties and levies is to ensure a constant stream of revenue for the State, with a secondary function of discouraging consumption of certain harmful products; i.e. harmful to human health or to the environment.

Excise taxes are one of the six determinants of supply. They shift the supply curve to the left decreasing supply and increasing the equilibrium price. The supply curve will shift until the vertical distance between the two curves is equal to the amount of the tax.

Excise taxes generally result in higher prices for consumers, reducing demand for taxed products. The size of the reduction and whom prices most affect depend on consumers' price elasticity of demand (the percentage change in the quantity demanded resulting from a 1% price increase).

Key Takeaways An excise tax is similar to a sales tax, but it's levied only on certain products or services. The most common excise taxes are imposed on tobacco, alcohol, and gasoline.The tax is generally payable by the manufacturer.

Excise taxes are taxes that are imposed on various goods, services and activities. Such taxes may be imposed on the manufacturer, retailer or consumer, depending on the specific tax. Form 720, Quarterly Federal Excise Tax Return, is available for optional electronic filing.

Excise taxes are commonly levied on cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, soda, gasoline, insurance premiums, amusement activities, and betting, and typically make up a relatively small and volatile portion of state and local and, to a lesser extent, federal tax collections.

Economic Theory In general, an excise tax will decrease the quantity of the item that consumers demand. This occurs for the simple reason that an excise tax increases the price of the product, making it less attractive to consumers.