Also FTA....
Cigarette taxes across the nation. Many smokers already pay a high tax rate for cigarettes. The current federal tax rate is $1.01 a pack. So Obama is proposing an increase to $1.95 a pack. But the taxes don’t stop there.
Some states and municipalities have also used cigarette taxes as a cash cow for years. In New York City, the country’s highest-tax area, combined state and local taxes add up to $5.85 a pack, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. In Manhattan, a pack of cigarettes can cost $14, while at an airport duty free shop they can be as low as $3 or $4 a pack.
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What is interesting is the huge black market for tax free cigarettes in NYC. And you know is making money on black market cigarettes?
Muslims.
If Canada has cheaper cigarettes, like booze in the 1920’s, there will be a black market for them. Heck, if you have a Chevy Blazer or some other SUV, (just speaking hypothetically) you can probably find a place to cross the border without anyone knowing, get the goods and bring them here. As long as you don’t break any (well other laws), no one would know. If you have a boat, go across Lake Erie in the dark of night with a few guys and off you go. Again, it is like the 1920’s.
It is much worse than you think, you just haven’t been paying attention.
US cigs are $5 a carton when not taxed. That is right, 50 cents a pack.
But a carton in NYC is $140. That is $135 in tax, or $13.50 a pack.
But wait - you pay for cigarettes with after-tax dollars - you already paid tax on the money.
38% federal income tax, 15 % FICA, 10% to NYS and NYC - that’s about 63% taxes you paid on the money you used to pay the cigarette taxes.
So you need to EARN $378, to buy a $5 product.
The other $373 is tax.
And Obama wants to raise it.
Well, why the heck not.
Smugglers need to make a living, too.
Actually, smuggling bootleg cigs out of my home county in SE North Carolina to NY has always been an accepted way to make a few extra dollars. In a place where unemployment among young men (such as I was) runs about 50%, it’s just accepted.
/never smuggled
//never smoked
///grew up in a place that accepted smuggling as a way of life since the seventeen-hundreds