Posted on 08/10/2008 8:15:52 PM PDT by ricks_place
Politicians in Annapolis are scratching their heads wondering what happened to all those chain smokers who were supposed to help balance Maryland's budget. Last year the legislature doubled the cigarette tax to $2 a pack to pay for expanded health-care coverage. Eight months later, cigarette sales have plunged 25% and the state is in fiscal distress again.
A few pols are pretending to be happy that 30 million fewer cigarette packs have been bought in the state so far this year. As House Majority Leader Kumar Barve put it, fewer people smoking is "a good thing." Yes, except that Maryland may be losing retail sales more than smokers. Residents of Maryland's Washington suburbs can shop in nearby Virginia, where the tax is only 30 cents a pack, and save at least $15 per carton.
The Maryland pols are so afraid this is true that they've made it a crime for residents to carry two packs of cigarettes that weren't purchased in the state. In other words, the state says it's legal to smoke, so long as you use cigarettes that the government can tax and thus become a financial partner in your bad habit. But if you dare to buy smokes across state lines, you can be fined.
Maryland is only the latest state to prove the folly of trying to finance government with a tax on a shrinking pool of smokers. In New York City and State, tobacco taxes have been raised so many times that the retail cost can exceed $9 a pack -- about double the national average. Few budget-savvy smokers in the Big Apple pay that tax...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
It's a great thing!
I don't smoke, but this is insane. Put me on that jury!
Exactly. Socialism: Meet freedom-loving-chain-smoking-capitalists. /sarcasm
Arizona seems to have given up on extorting money from smokers. I guess they killed their golden goose. Speeding cameras are the “in” thing here now for “revenue.”
**States learn a lesson in Economics-101**
Especially when we NY’ers know where the Indian Reservations with the Cheap smokes are. Liberal Morons who don’t seem to understand... SUPPLY AND DEMAND RULE!!!
VIVA LA CAPITALISMA!!
Recently pled guilty to drunk driving. No word if he was smoking at the time.
I highly doubt the smokers have “quit”. I am sure there is a black market evolving even more than just driving to another state. I am sure there are more than a couple of people selling cigs out of their van.
Maryland is a tiny state - I suspicion most are simply going to another state for their smokes...
When prices reach the tipping point, anything, people find another way...
This is a prime example of why raising taxes doesn't work...
No, they will tax eggs BIG time.
Ping-a-rooni!
Idiots. They've never heard of "smuggling."
Recently pled guilty to drunk driving. No word if he was smoking at the time.
We should write him and suggest they raise the state tax on a liter of whiskey to $10.00 a bottle. Obviously people in Maryland are still drinking. :)
Atlas Smoked.
SheLion, died 06/28/2008...may she R.I.P.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2036688/posts
Originally, these exorbitant tobacco taxes were supposed to be used to pay for smoking-related health costs. The logic being that if people quit smoking, health costs would go down and the taxes wouldn't be missed.
Yeah, right!
Now cigarette taxes are being used for everything from parks & recreation, children's health care, schools and balancing budgets. Are any of these taxes used for smoking related costs anymore? I doubt it. Needless to say, when people quit smoking (or otherwise evade paying these increasingly exorbitant tobacco taxes) something else is going to have to be taxed to make up for the loss of revenue. How many of those people who supported cigarette taxes wholeheartedly even considered this?
By raising the cost of cigarettes to $4, $5 and even $9 a pack, they've killed the golden goose and either motivated people to quit or sent them to find black market sources. Gotta love the Law of Unintended Consequences. It proves itself true every time.
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