This bill adds a new embodied carbon tax on cigarettes by creating a new section in chapter 82.24 RCW. It imposes an initial tax of $0.0015 per cigarette in addition to the taxes already in RCW 82.24.020 and 82.24.026 and takes effect October 1, 2025. The bill text is introduced as NEW SECTION Sec. 1 and Sec. 2 and was read for the first time on January 20, 2025. Beginning October 1, 2030, and every five years thereafter, the per‑cigarette rate must be increased by 25 percent plus the most recently available 12‑month consumer price index for all urban consumers; the adjusted rate is to be rounded to the nearest full cent and published on the department’s website. All revenue collected under the new section is to be deposited into the state general fund. The provided text does not identify which specific “department” must publish the rate, does not define terms such as “cigarette” or “embodied carbon tax,” and does not include administrative, collection, enforcement, or penalty provisions or the contents of the referenced RCW sections, so those details are unclear from the extracted facts.

If enacted, the bill adds a small extra tax of $0.0015 on every cigarette starting October 1, 2025, collected on top of existing cigarette taxes and deposited into the state general fund. That means consumers and the businesses that sell cigarettes will pay slightly more now and will face scheduled increases every five years beginning October 1, 2030, when the per-cigarette rate is raised by 25 percent plus inflation (CPI) and rounded to the nearest cent, so cigarette costs are likely to rise over time. The bill also requires an unspecified state department to publish the adjusted rate on its website, but it does not say which department handles publication, collection, enforcement, or how the tax will be administered alongside the existing taxes, leaving those implementation details unclear.