New York Loses $400 Million After Imposing The Nation’s Highest Cigarette Tax

dailycaller.com ^ | december 28, 2015 | guy bentley

[lowbridge]

New York is reaping the whirlwind of sky-high cigarette taxes with a wave of smuggling decimating the state's revenue.

New York holds the dubious honor of having the highest cigarette taxes in country, with the average pack of smokes in New York City costing as much as $10.60.

New York raised taxes on cigarettes to $4.35 in 2010 from $2.75. In total, cigarette taxes have increased by 190 percent since 2006. The sharp rise has resulted in a raft of unintended consequences which are dealing a significant blow to the state's finances.

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli reports New York's revenue from cigarette taxes has plunged by $400 million over the past five years.

According to the The New York Post, a separate study by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine shows the state lost a hefty $1.3 billion in uncollected taxes each year because smokers switched to cheaper alternatives.

Smokers responded to higher prices not by shelling out more cash at the store but by turning to the black market, crossing state lines and buying cheaper brands, such as Seneca, from Native American outlets.

[BwanaNdege]

So say the tax-the-rich,

"...low-income smokers, defined as individuals in households earning less than $30,000 a year, spent 23.6 percent of the annual household income on cigarettes in 2010-2011. That number is up from 11.6 percent in 2003-2004.

Smokers in households in wealthier households earning over $60,000 a year spent an around 2.2 percent of their household income on cigarettes."

[i_robot73]

Sorry, but...and?

Let’s take it @ face value. Like the income tax, those same < $30k (aka “the ‘poor’”) could care less what % is spent, nor on what. Why should they, when they get a huge chunk of ill-gotten gains from taxpayers ala govt ‘charity’?

IMO, those on the dole that decide waste $$ on smokes, liquor, lottery, etc. shouldn’t be able to vote, let alone reproduce.

Like anything, when one is responsible for the payment, THEN it gets the scrutiny it deserves. Hence why I support a return of user-payer for schools, trash, parks, sports teams (almost as bad as schools), h-care, etc.

You use it, you pay for it. You’d bet those same ‘poor’, if paying out of pocket, would be going across State lines, rolling their own, reservation/cheaper brands, etc. ...just like the ‘affluent’.