Posted on 09/20/2005 4:25:26 PM PDT by Past Your Eyes
Maine storekeepers say customers fuming about high cigarette tax
By GLENN ADAMS Associated Press Writer
HALLOWELL, Maine (AP) -- Taking time out to tend to customers who drift into his tobacco shop on a sunny Monday morning, owner Tom Allen showed little worry about the doubling of Maine's cigarette tax to $2 that just took effect.
"There's no impact on me whatsoever. If anything, it will help because people will stop buying packs and make their own," said Allen, whose Kennebec Tobacco Co. sells bags of loose rolling tobacco as a sideline to its main products, cigars and pipe products.
But farther west toward the New Hampshire border, storekeepers said they were hearing it from customers and seeing the first signs of regulars drifting to the Granite State to buy their smokes. New Hampshire's tax is 80 cents a pack, which makes a carton of cigarettes $12 less in that state than in Maine.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Shhhhhh. Or we'll end up with State Smoke Shops here as well.
LIVE FREE OR DIE!!
Ayup, and thank ye very much! My wife grew up in Massivetaxes, about a mile from the NH line. They did about all of their shopping in Plaistow and Salem, NH.
Don't forget South Nashua...a straight shot up Route 3... about a half hour from most of Greater Boston (in light traffic).I always get a kick out of the fact that many of the stores there are literally feet away from the Mass border,almost as if NH was taunting Massachusetts :-)
There's a reason for that....when the state is the biggest employer how else are they going to generate operating revenue. The people of ME have the government they deserve.
It will be interesting to see if the "increase" in the tax per pack of death will lead to a decrease in total tax revenues.
Montomike Laffer
Yeah, it does. Remember Martin Niemoeller?
Germany 1930's and 40's
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out--because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak out for me.
USA 2000's
First they taxed cigarettes, and I did not speak out--because I was not a smoker:
Then they taxed alcohol, and I did not speak out--because I was not a drinker....
Tobacco and alcohol can only be taxed so much. Eventually, you'll be paying exhorbinant taxes on something to feed the insatiable appetite of big government.
You're a quick study, ain't ye? Hehhehheh.
I live in the very middle of the state but I still see lots of Mass----s up here stocking up on beer and cigarettes. Seems like we appreciate you folks more than your own state does.
been $2.00 a pack in michigan for a while(known locally as the "Jennifer Tax" after Gov. Jennifer Granholm)...a word about internet cigarette sales.......some states (Michigan for sure, I've heard rumors of others) have been getting court orders for customer lists and sending bills for unpaid taxes
its worse than that in Anchorage and some other places
http://tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0267.pdf
You're probably correct.But there's a potential downside for NH here.If you guys ever get a sales tax,Nashua and Salem (and perhaps other towns as well) become ghost towns overnight.At least when it comes to retail trade.
Everyone needs to wake up! The leftists, that I call COMMUNISTS, Have created this mess. I don't care if it is cigarettes, gas, or bridges to no where. The EPA, lawyers, and the leftist like chappaquidick fatz and all his buddies created this mess. People blame President Bush for Katrina, no one realizes that our people in uniform keep the terrorists out of our AMERICA, and alot listen to the mainstream media. This is ONE NATION UNDER GOD. God gave us our RIGHTS and FREEDOMS and the FOUNDING FATHERS put it all in writing. Come on AMERICA let's drill for oil on our ground, start realizing that if you smoke you might get cancer, and tell the legistlature that is our real enemy not President Bush to get to work for us. We need to stop handing out those monthly checkes to people that are saying that they are owed to them. Let them get a job. Find the really destitute and sick Americans that need our help and help them. God Bless America!
If government were really serious about discouraging tobacco use, they'd do just the opposite of what they're doing now and slap price controls on cigarettes, with a maximum allowable price just below what's needed to make them profitable.
We here in Soviet Canukistan go to New York and buy our cigarettes at the Indian Reservation where they don't have any tax at all. About 90% of the people I know who regularly cross the border are smuggling cigarettes and you can buy them from any guy with a duffle bag. A number of stores advertise "American cigarettes" which means SMUGGLED TAX FREE cigarettes.
Put the price up high enough and you make every housewife a criminal.
You pay eighty cents a pack, and you think you live free? What an amazing thing.
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