Mass excise tax on each pack is $1.51 and it has made tax cheats out of lots of people.
Then they insult us more by including the $1.51 when calculating the 5% sales tax.
For 20+ years all I heard, and admittedly promoted myself, was about the tax-free shopping in Delaware. I don't promote it anymore!!!!
Now that I have lived in Virginia for a year, with a 4.5% (goes to 5% August 1) sales tax I can honestly say that is cheaper for me to shop here or in Maryland (only 8 miles away) than in Delaware. The hidden taxes in Delaware are astronomical. I always knew they were there, but didn't realize just how bad they were.
For example, a single item I buy on a regular basis cost me $1.29-$1.39 in Dover with no sales tax. I buy the same item, from the identical chain store here in Virginia and it costs me 99cents, including the sales tax.
When the cigarette tax here goes up August 1 you can bet we will have gone back to making our own. Currently it is cheaper for us to buy our cigs than make them - we get change from a $20 for 2 cartons.