[E. Pluribus Unum]

Try lowering the tax rate. Bet you get more revenue.

But it ain't about revenue. It's about control.

[doc1019]

This was predicted by every economist and forward thinker from day one. Raise taxes too much and you create an underground economy. Keep taxes reasonable and the tax money flows in. Basic econ 101.

[JRandomFreeper]

Tax free tobacco and tax (and morals) free cat.

/johnny

[Paladin2]

Taxation = Theft

[Phillyred]

Liberal economics is pathetic. What they have no capacity to understand is that economics is natural law. You can only avoid the invisible hand for so long before it smacks you down. I mean, jeez if we just tax everything at 100% then just imagine the sweet revenues....oh wait...that means 100% of nothing????

[AFreeBird]

ROFLMAO!

Well of course it’s up. That’s what happens when the greedy geniuses in gubment tax the $#!t out of stuff people want.

Lesson for the day.

Government is stupid.

Government runs the education system in this country.

Our kids these days, with exceptions, are generally stupid.

Any questions?

[Vince Ferrer]

While they are wringing their hands over all this "lost" revenue, progressives will never tell you that cigarette taxes are extremely regressive, hitting the poor hardest.

In a study conducted on behalf of the New York State Department of Health, it revealed that low-income smokers (those in households making under $30,000), spent an average of 23.6% of their annual household income on cigarettes, compared to 2.2% for smokers in households making over $60,000.[15]

Cigarette taxes in the United States

[Ghost of SVR4]

quitting nicotine isn't the hardest part. quitting "the habit" is not so bad; it is the other 4000 compounds in today's cigarette's that are the problem of quitting.
Think about that for a second, alllll the cottage industries that go *poof* overnight if liberals were to just ban cig's. They know full well they cannot but tax cigs into oblivion and create two markets and catch EVERYONE in the middle. It is a liberals wet dream.

[Mastador1]

It’s actually funny, the do gooders jack up the taxes on tobacco so as to fund their liberal programs, for the children you know. Then they continue to jack up the tax rate to force people to quit and all they succeed in doing is driving the smokers to the black market and cut the revenue they were using for the children. Yeah sure that’s where the money went.

[denydenydeny]

Why, it’s almost like there are economic laws that predict such events.

[sickoflibs]

RE :” In New York, almost 57 percent of all cigarettes consumed in the state were also illicit. This has profound effects on the revenue generated by state (and sometimes local) government. “

57% ???

That's a heck of a loss.

Maybe they need to double that tax to make up for it.

I know where the jobs are.

[KarlInOhio]

Art Laffer is laughing at you high tax states.

[Rebelbase]

“Cigarette Smuggling Undermines Tax Revenue”

So does driving the speed limit.

[tcrlaf]

“Cigarette Smuggling Undermines Tax Revenue”

DUH....
Higher taxes leads to higher tax avoidance.

They figured this out in ancient Rome, but the average Democrat still hasn’t seen the light.

[Lurker]

Duh.

[Fledermaus]

Give this man the “So Obvious Only A Libtard Would Take So Long To Realize The Truth” award for 2014.

[Teacher317]

Curious how the tax revenue BOOST to the neighboring states with lower tax rates is not even a concern for the authors.

What?! They get REWARDED for having lower tax rates? Horrors!!

[Amagi]

OMG.
Please.
Someone quick cue the world's tiniest violin, because one of the countless taxes foisted on the public is being undermined.
This is so distressing.
Very sad news.

[SunTzuWu]

Cigarette Smuggling Undermines Tax Revenue

So do anti smoking campaigns. They act surprised that the funds won't roll in forever.

[McGruff]

The Boston Tea Party was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, on December 16, 1773. The demonstrators, some disguised as American Indians, destroyed an entire shipment of tea, which had been sent by the East India Company, in defiance of the Tea Act of May 10, 1773.

They boarded the ships and threw the chests of tea into Boston Harbor, ruining the tea. The British government responded harshly and the episode escalated into the American Revolution.

The Tea Party became an iconic event of American history, and other political protests such as the Tea Party movement after 2010 explicitly refer to it.