$10 A PACK! NOW THAT'S A DRAG (Manhattan Cigarette Prices)

NY Post ^ | 2/8/09 | CYNTHIA R. FAGEN

[jimbo123]

If this doesn't make you quit, nothing will.

With a new 62 cent federal tax on cigarettes added this week with the passage of the State Children's Health Insurance Program law, the new price of a pack of cigarettes will soar past $10 in Manhattan.

The NYC price is higher than anywhere in the country and more than twice the national average. And beginning April 1, two-thirds of that cost will be made up of city, state and federal taxes.

[UCFRoadWarrior]

With the new cigarette tax....eventually they will have to collect more taxes to fund SCHIP because people will reduce their smoking...meaning less revenue comes in from cig/tobacco taxes...

[BallyBill]

I smoked for 31 years. The thing that finally got me to quit was the cost and how I could use that extra money for my hobbies and recreational activities.

Madness!

[CriticalJ]

What I like about vice taxes is the planning. The plan to spend all the new found wealth while the buyers either quit or find cheaper places to buy it. It happens all of the time, yet politicians can’t seem to grasp the idea.

[SamAdams76]

I don't understand why more people (who are inclined to smoke) don't just roll their own.

I don't smoke but I do drink beer. If the price of beer got as ridiculous as a pack of cigarettes, you can bet that I'd be brewing my own down in the basement.

[WVKayaker]

...I could use that extra money for my hobbies and recreational activities.

[John W]

It would have made sense, but, the feds took care of that this time.

http://ryorevolution.com/ryo-tobacco-tax.html

[WVKayaker]

I don't understand why more people (who are inclined to smoke) don't just roll their own.

From: "Roll your own" Revolution website...

Roll Your Own tobacco sales have had a slow but steady increase over the last decade as cigarette taxes at the Federal, State & Local levels have increased dramatically. The 111th Congress however wants to curtail that trend by increasing the Excise Taxes on all tobacco products to fund not only a renewal, but an Expansion of the 11 year old SCHIP program. Under HR.2, passed by the Congress and signed by President Obama, the FET on Roll Your Own tobacco WILL increase from $1.0696 per pound to $24.78 per pound, a whopping 2,159% Increase! -http://ryorevolution.com/

[Nam Vet]

I 'stuffed' my own cigs for about 3 years before I quit 3 years ago. The new legislation will make the $9 of tobacco needed for a carton rise $25 or so from what I read.

Nam Vet

[SES1066]

I hope that someone is keeping track of smuggling activities from such non-existent outfits like the Mafia. They were doing well at this in the past, twill be interesting what happens now.

Also buying from the Indian Smoke Shops (American Indian, not Sanjay down at the corner)! Are the costs of smokes still cheaper in the Canadian 'First Nation' stores? I'm sure that the wise Congresscritters have allocated increased funds to boost law enforcement for their added costs in policing these illicit activities, RIGHT? /sarc

[Eye of Unk]

My crystal ball sees a profitable market in black market cigarette smuggling.

I remember buying a pack of Camels from the Indian reservation stores in Nevada for 25 cents, and this was in 1990.

I would think the reservations are federal tax exempt.

[proxy_user]

Isn’t tobacco basically a weed, that will grow in your back yard?

[MrPiper]

Isn’t tobacco basically a weed, that will grow in your back yard?

No, not that easy, but growing it is only half the battle. Curing it is the real work.

[Dutch Boy]

The saddest part is when the cigarette tax revenues dry up the will not realize it was the tax increase that did it.

[andyandval]

I live in NYS and a pack of smokes costs about $7.

There are about a thousand ways to circumvent these commies.

And it's so easy.

Only idiot sheep pay these prices.

[csvset]

Isn’t tobacco basically a weed, that will grow in your back yard?

Ask Al Gore! Al knows all about tobacco.He's planted it, grown it, harvested it cured it...

He's even plowed steep hillsides with a team of mules.

[Graybeard58]

Isn’t tobacco basically a weed, that will grow in your back yard?

It doesn't grow well in most areas of the country.

The prospect of jail is the only thing keeping me from buying cigarettes in Missouri @$23 per carton and hauling them to N.Y. to sell @ $10 per pack

[dennisw]

There will be more bootlegged cigarettes particularity in minority neighborhoods in bodegas and out of other small stores... The middle class will pay full price maybe

[RU88]

You've got to love it. All Zero and Plugs talked about on the campaign trail was sticking it to the rich folks who don't pay their “patriotic” share of taxes and what do they do in their first two weeks in office? Stick it to the little guy who smokes. I'm sure this tax will have a much greater impact on lower to middle income people than any one. I'm also sure that their revenue projections are way off considering how many people will quit or buy on the black market because they can't afford it any more. These pea brains can't figure out that if you want to raise more tax revenue you DECREASE the tax, which will make whatever your taxing more affordable, most likely increasing consumption. This tax will provide a positive in that there will be less people smoking. However I can see a very big negative in that now that they have made cigs so valuable you're going to see more robberies for sure. When all of this is said and done they still won't have enough money to fund their back door to nationalized health care.

[Larry381]

At one time NYC used to collect a huge amount of money from cigarette taxes until our idiot mayor basically tripled the tax on them. Now only the very poor buy their cigarettes in this city and most people either go out to Long Island, or Jersey or Conn to buy them. Others order from Indian reservations or buy bootleg cigarettes. This has resulted in an almost 75% drop in revenue for the city from cigarettes.
It has resulted in many small candy stores no longer even selling cigarettes. Now Bloomberg is suing Indian reservations to recoup the lost tax revenue and I fully expect in the near future to see agents of the NYC Taxation dept on the borders of this city checking the trunks of cars to make sure people are not smuggling a couple of cartons of cigarettes into NYC