Cigarette Price Rise in Australia: $52–$62 Packs, Bigger RYO Hike

From 1 September 2026, tobacco excise rises to $1.55274 per stick and $2,587.90 per kilogram for roll-your-own. On our estimates, a standard 20-pack of a mainstream brand will land at roughly $52 to $62 at the till, depending on retailer margin and stock timing. Roll-your-own smokers face the sharper step.

TL;DR:

• The ATO sets stick duty at $1.55274 per stick; the rate applies when goods enter home consumption, so older stock may remain cheaper briefly.
• Excise is indexed to average weekly earnings each March and September; the September factor of 1.016 raised stick duty, while legislation can add separate changes.
• Excise alone exceeds $31 on a 20 stick pack, so unusually cheap offers may signal untaxed tobacco; reputable retailers reduce legal and quality risks.

Table of Contents

• What changed on 1 September 2026 in the official ATO excise figures
• How tobacco excise indexation works and why September updates matter
• How the excise rise shows up at the till for a 20-pack and a 50-pack
• Why roll-your-own smokers face a larger step from equivalisation weight alignment
• How the government is responding to illicit tobacco and what it means for availability
• What the 2026 rise means for smokers, from quitting to budgets and population impact
• Cigarette prices across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane: local examples with brand mentions
• Balancing public-health goals and the real cost for smokers
• FAQ

What changed on 1 September 2026 in the official ATO excise figures

The Australian Taxation Office publishes the legal excise rates, and the September 2026 update is now on its table. These are the numbers that sit underneath every pack price in the country, so they are the right starting point for anyone trying to work out what they will pay.

The key figures from the ATO excise duty rates for tobacco page are:

• Tobacco in stick form (not exceeding 0.8g per stick): $1.55274 per stick from 1 September 2026, up from $1.52829 per stick for March to August 2026.
• Non-stick tobacco, which covers roll-your-own (RYO): $2,587.90 per kilogram from 1 September 2026, up from $2,445.26 per kilogram over the same earlier period.
• Indexation factor: the Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings (AWOTE) factor applied for rates on and from 1 September 2026 is 1.016.
• Publication: the ATO published these rates on 13 August 2026, ahead of the effective date.

Two points are worth keeping in mind. First, the per-stick figure is an excise rate paid by the manufacturer or importer, not a price you see on a shelf. GST and the retailer’s margin sit on top. Second, the rise for sticks is modest in percentage terms because it reflects indexation alone, while the loose tobacco rate moves further because of an extra adjustment we explain below.

The September step is also not a surprise. Rates move on a published schedule, and the ATO’s own excise on tobacco guidance is the place to check the live table at any time. If you buy from a retailer, ask whether the pack on the shelf was entered for home consumption before or after 1 September. That date decides which rate applies to it, and it helps explain why prices at shops can differ during the transition.

For adult smokers, the practical takeaway is simple. The legal duty on every stick has gone up by about 2.5 cents. Across a 20-pack that adds up quickly, and the next section explains how the system produces these steps.

How tobacco excise indexation works and why September updates matter

Australian tobacco excise does not wait for a budget announcement to change. It moves automatically, twice a year, and the schedule is written into the rules that govern payment of duty.

Here is how the mechanism runs:

1. The benchmark is wages. The ATO explains that excise duty rates increase in March and September each year in line with Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings (AWOTE), the standard measure of full-time adult earnings.
2. A factor is calculated. The ATO publishes an indexation factor for each adjustment. For rates on and from 1 September 2026, that factor is 1.016.
3. The factor is applied to the existing rate. Multiplying the March to August 2026 stick rate of $1.52829 by 1.016 gives roughly $1.5527, which matches the published $1.55274 per stick. That is the clean part of the September change.
4. The new rate takes effect on the date set out in the schedule. For this round, that date is 1 September 2026.

Indexation is the routine part, but it is not the only way rates change. The ATO’s excise guidelines for the tobacco industry on payment of duty note that tariff proposals or legislative changes can also alter rates beyond indexation. The September 2026 loose tobacco figure is a good example, because it carries both indexation and a final alignment step.

The timing rule matters just as much as the percentage. The same guidance explains that the rate that applies is the rate in force on the date goods are entered for home consumption. That is the point where duty becomes payable, and it is not the date a pack is sold to you.

For consumers, this has a real effect on what you see. A retailer holding stock that was entered before 1 September has already paid duty at the older rate. Some will pass the increase on immediately, others will hold prices briefly, and the next shipment will carry the higher duty. Expect prices to drift up across the first weeks of September rather than jump on a single day.

Because the schedule is predictable, you can also plan around it. The next indexation is scheduled for March, and the pattern of regular adjustments affects the legal price of tobacco over time.

How the excise rise shows up at the till for a 20-pack and a 50-pack

The best way to understand the price rise is to build it up from the ATO rate. Everything below uses the official excise figure and clearly labelled assumptions, so you can change the inputs to match your own brand and shop.

Step one: the excise component. At $1.55274 per stick, a 20-stick pack carries 20 × $1.55274 = $31.0548 in excise. A 50-stick pack carries 50 × $1.55274 = $77.637.

Step two: add GST and everything else. Here we use an illustrative assumption: say the pre-tax cost of the product, manufacturer margin, distribution and retailer margin together add about $13 to $17 to a 20-pack before GST. GST at 10% is then applied to the full amount. These are assumptions for illustration, not market data, and real figures vary by brand and retailer.

The 50-pack and the 30g pouch share the same excise figure of $77.637, which is no coincidence. It is the result of the equivalisation alignment we cover in the next section, and it means loose tobacco and sticks are now taxed on a closely matched basis.

A mainstream, premium-positioned brand will sit above the mid-range of these estimates, which is why we put the headline range for a standard 20-pack at roughly $52 to $62 in the opening. Budget and discount-tier packs will sit lower.

If the shelf price is well below the excise alone, treat that as a warning sign about the product’s origin and consider checking the cigarette filter types detailed by WHO and lab evidence to understand product differences.

There is one more caveat. Because the applicable rate depends on when goods were entered for home consumption, some shops will briefly sell older tax-paid stock at the previous price. A stock check or a quick price comparison across shops in your area will tell you whether the rise has fully arrived yet.

Why roll-your-own smokers face a larger step from equivalisation weight alignment

Loose tobacco is taxed by weight, while cigarettes are taxed per stick. To keep the two fair, the system uses an equivalisation weight, which sets how many grams of loose tobacco count as one cigarette for duty purposes. The lower that weight, the more duty each kilogram carries.

The ATO explains the staged reduction of the equivalisation weight from 0.7g to 0.6g, with the final step in effect from 1 September 2026. That final step stacks on top of the normal AWOTE indexation, which is why the loose tobacco rate rises by more than the stick rate.

Here is what that looks like in practice:

• Before: $2,445.26 per kilogram for March to August 2026.
• After: $2,587.90 per kilogram from 1 September 2026, per the ATO rates table.
• The jump: the per-kilogram duty rises by $142.64, about 5.8% on the earlier rate, compared with roughly 1.6% for each stick.
• Per gram: the duty is about $2.59 per gram of loose tobacco, up from about $2.45.

Take a worked example with a 30g pouch. At $2,587.90 per kg, the excise on 30g is 30 × $2.5879 = $77.637. Under the earlier rate it was 30 × $2.44526 = $73.3578. The excise on that pouch alone rises by about $4.28, before GST and retailer margin are added. A 50g pouch sees an excise increase of roughly $7.13.

For someone who rolls their own to keep costs down, the gap between loose tobacco and manufactured cigarettes has now narrowed to almost nothing on the tax side. This is the intended result of the alignment. It removes the incentive to switch purely on tax grounds, and it explains why we flag RYO as the sharper increase in this price rise.

How the government is responding to illicit tobacco and what it means for availability

Rising legal prices have a side effect that governments openly acknowledge: they make illicit supply more attractive to criminal networks. The Australian Government’s own statements are direct about this.

According to a ministerial statement from the Minister for Home Affairs, higher legal prices have created opportunities for organised crime to sell illicit, untaxed tobacco. Since 2024 the government has committed substantial funds to disrupt that trade through border disruption and closing illegal retail outlets.

The health portfolio has set out its own package. The Department of Health’s release on action to combat the trade of illicit tobacco describes multi-agency enforcement funding, including work by the Australian Federal Police and Australian Border Force, along with asset confiscation measures and state-level enforcement.

What does this mean on the ground? A few practical points:

• Enforcement is active. Border disruption and shopfront closures are targeted at the supply chain, not at individual smokers, but buyers and sellers of untaxed product both carry legal risk.
• Very cheap offers deserve suspicion. With the excise on a 20-pack alone above $31, a pack advertised far below that figure cannot be fully taxed.
• Quality is not guaranteed. Illicit or counterfeit product has no regulated oversight, and what is in the pack may differ from what the label says.
• Availability can shift. As enforcement tightens, supply from unlicensed outlets can change quickly, and purchases from those sources may stop being reliable.

Authorities have also widened their attention to related products. The Australian Border Force has banned the personal importation of nicotine pouches from 24 July 2026, a sign that price rises are one part of a broader set of controls on nicotine products.

To reduce the risk of buying untaxed tobacco, use reputable sources and be cautious about unusually low prices.

What the 2026 rise means for smokers, from quitting to budgets and population impact

Excise policy is about public health as well as revenue. The Department of Health reports that daily smoking among adults over 18 fell to 5.8% as of July 2026, roughly 500,000 fewer daily smokers than three years earlier. The September increase continues a policy path that governments have followed for years.

The government’s National Tobacco Strategy 2023–2030 frames tax increases as a core tool for reducing how affordable tobacco is and, through that, how much of it people smoke. Price changes tend to matter most for people on lower incomes and for younger people who are still deciding whether to continue.

For readers who smoke, there are some practical steps worth considering:

• Call Quitline. It is a free, confidential service staffed by trained advisers, and it can talk through your options at your own pace.
• Talk to a GP or pharmacist. They can explain approved cessation aids and help you choose one that suits your situation.
• Track your spending. Keep a record of what you spend on tobacco. Seeing the total can help you decide whether to cut down or plan around the cost.
• Buy within the law. Chasing the lowest possible price can lead to untaxed product, which brings legal and quality concerns.
• Check pack sizes and weights. If you roll your own, compare the cost across pouch sizes, keeping in mind that the per-kilogram duty contributes to the price.

The overall direction is clear. Prices will keep rising on a schedule, prevalence is falling, and support services exist for anyone who decides now is the time to stop. Whatever you decide, it helps to make the decision with the real numbers in front of you.

Cigarette prices across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane: local examples with brand mentions

National excise is the same everywhere, but what you pay still varies by city and by shop. Using the worked calculation from earlier, here is how a 20-pack of a well-known brand such as Marlboro might look after the September rise. These are illustrative estimates built on our assumptions, not surveyed prices.

• Sydney, New South Wales: a 20-pack of Marlboro Red could plausibly sit around $55 to $62, with inner-city convenience stores at the upper end.
• Melbourne, Victoria: a similar pack is likely to land around $54 to $61, with supermarket-adjacent tobacconists often slightly lower than petrol stations.
• Brisbane, Queensland: estimates of $53 to $60 are reasonable, with some variation between suburban and CBD outlets.
• Roll-your-own in each city: a 30g pouch of a brand such as Golden Virginia is likely to follow the excise step of about $4 higher than before, plus GST.

Why do prices differ between shops? Three things drive most of it: how quickly a retailer rotates stock (older tax-paid packs may sell at the previous price for a short time), which pack sizes it carries, and local competition. Compliance activity also plays a part, since shops that have been under enforcement scrutiny tend to be careful about pricing and sourcing.

Rules and enforcement can apply to tobacco sales and purchases, so check official guidance and be cautious about unverified offers. A shelf price alone does not establish whether a product is genuine.

Balancing public-health goals and the real cost for smokers

There is a fair case on both sides of this rise. The government’s National Tobacco Strategy describes tax increases as a measure intended to reduce tobacco affordability and consumption. At the same time, higher costs can put pressure on smokers’ budgets, and the relative cost of roll-your-own and manufactured tobacco depends on the product and retailer.

Enforcement is the other half of the picture. Without it, higher legal prices can push demand toward untaxed supply, and that carries its own harms. The support side matters just as much. Cessation help should be easy to find on the day a price rise hits, not after it.

If you are weighing what the new prices mean for you, the FAQ below covers the most common practical questions, and Quitline on 13 QUIT is there whenever you want to talk it through.

— Cigarette Online

This article is general information, not a substitute for advice from a qualified financial advisor. Consult a qualified financial professional about your own circumstances before acting on anything here.

FAQ

How much will cigarettes cost in Australia in 2026?

A standard 20-pack of a mainstream brand will likely cost roughly $52 to $62 after the 1 September 2026 excise increase, depending on brand and retailer. The excise alone is $1.55274 per stick, which makes about $31.05 of every 20-pack, according to the ATO rates table. Budget brands sit lower and premium brands higher.

Are cigarettes going up in price in Australia?

Yes. Tobacco excise is indexed to wages every March and September, so legal prices rise in regular steps. The latest step takes effect on 1 September 2026, and roll-your-own tobacco rises by more than manufactured cigarettes because of the final equivalisation weight alignment.

How much does a 50-pack of cigarettes cost in Australia?

On our illustrative estimates, a 50-pack will cost roughly $115 to $128 after the September 2026 rise. The excise component alone is $77.637, which is 50 sticks at the official per-stick rate. GST and retailer margin make up the rest.

How much does a 20-pack of Marlboro cigarettes cost in Australia?

Expect a 20-pack of Marlboro to sit toward the upper half of the $52 to $62 range, with city, retailer and stock timing all affecting the final price. Shops still selling stock that entered the market before 1 September may charge slightly less for a short period.

How can I tell if a cheap pack is illicit?

Compare the price to the excise. With more than $31 of excise on every 20-pack, a price far below that cannot be fully taxed. The government has funded enforcement against illicit tobacco, and buyers and sellers both carry legal risk.

Online Cigarette Nearby provides articles for general information only and may not offer professional advice. Some content is intended for adults aged 18+ only. Help quitting smoking, contact your local Quitline.