Wow!
Years ago when Michigan implemented a tobacco tax (the one before the last one). I believe about 7years ago, I was in discussion with the county health director. He was commenting how the tax was a great thing in that all kinds of money would be directed to county level health programs. It was anticipated a 100 million dollar increase in revenue. I told him that it would most likely result in a loss in revenue as two things would happen:1; people would quit; 2; people would go out of state for their smokes.
Michigan cigarette tax revenue dropped by about 110 million and the number one ticket issued by the Coldwater State Police post was untaxed cigarettes. Coldwater is located just inside the Indiana/MI border.
Liberals just don’t see the big pictured. In this case it was cheaper to drive 100 miles to Indiana for smokes. The tax was 75 cents a pack. People were buying hundreds of cartons for all their friends and family in one trip and saving thousands in taxes at the time.