Cigarette tax soars; will cheating, too? ("All hell is going to break loose.")

Seattle Times ^ | 11/26/01 | Peter Lewis

[Junior]

Gee, tax revolts. Sort of an American tradition, ain't it?..

[FormerLib]

That's where the lawbreakers who engage in smuggling for the black market come into play.

Right. Not only do they smuggle illegal goods, but they'll do so with legal goods whenever there is a profit in doing so. In the case of the cigaretters, when enough money can be saved by avoiding the taxes to get people interested in the black market alternative. Get that profit margin up high enough and show enough of a demand, and you'll have offshore producers shipping their products directly to the black marketeers.

Get enough money flowing, and the various smugglers will start fighting over the market.

[KentuckyWoman]

Actually, it's illegal to SELL them but not illegal to smoke them.

[mlocher]

thanks. i am not sure if i should be disappointed at once again not having an original thought, or if i should be disgusted that somebody already is putting up a PR blitz on this.

[sailrabbit]

"Gladly. Tell me more..."

rob reiner is meathead from "All in the Family"

do a search using keywords "reiner cigarette tax"

here are a few hits:

http://substanceabuse.about.com/library/blnic021900.htm

http://www.ndsn.org/NOVDEC98/TOBACCO2.html

[Ditto]

Imagine "cheating" to the point where "tax revenues" drop below "acceptable levels" and government either defining purchase price or taking over marketing.

It happened in Canada back in the 80s. They pushed the tax up to where a pack cost $7 each. They actually had a drop in revenues (a big black market grew out of nowhere) and the good liberals decided to 'roll' back the taxes. Seems they were more interested in tax revenues than in protecting the 'children' from those evil cigarettes. The same will happen in Washington.

[biblewonk]

Only a very serious smoker would compare cigarette tax to all hell.

[Petronski]

Read 'em and weep.

[Ditto]

i have read that 60 cents out of every $1.00 of medical costs are for smoking related illnesses.

And where did you read that? Does that cover all the old non-smokers who spend the last 20 of their 100 years lying in a nursing room bed not knowing what their name is? Smokers tend to check-out quickly. Medicare doesn't have to buy Depends by the truck load for them.

[Petronski]

D'oh! Read these prices and get your credit card ready.

[pcl]

California's contraband problem now accounts for $400 million a year in missing revenue.

They used to tell us the tax was about health. Now they admit that it all about REVENUE. No surprise here.

[100%FEDUP]

What's next for the state of Washington?
Search points at every road leading to and from the state?
Car searches?
Shakedowns?
Or will the IRS appoint another Elliot Ness to track down black market tobacco vendors?

Big Brother has come but not in the form of a Republican as so many socialists have led us to believe!

Big Brother has come in the form of the DNC, special interest groups such as MADD and those idiots going by the name of The Truth!

I'm sure everyone has seen the ads The Truth puts out, what would happen if someone did the same types of ads about the dangers of HIV transmission? The ACLU, GLADD and every other SI group would be screaming for a ban.

[newgeezer]

i have read that 60 cents out of every $1.00 of medical costs are for smoking related illnesses. i SAY LET THE ADDICTED PAY! for their own selfishly brought on diseases.

Actually, many state's attorneys general used a similar argument to wrangle a huge settlement from the tobacco companies. So, here in Iowa, where is the annual windfall going? Not back to the taxpayers who allegedly financed the treatment of smokers' alleged medical bills over the years, but to smoking cessation programs and to pay for TV ads and billboards urging kids not to smoke. (Yeah, those are all proven to work wonders.)

Oh, and of course, let's not forget the lawyer friends of the attorney general who represented the State in the $ettlement.

[deport]

This table is for 2001 but it's a good indicator...... To this you need to add the Federal tax of $3.40 per carton....

STATE EXCISE TAX RATES ON CIGARETTES
(January 1, 2001)

STATE	TAX RATE (¢ per pack)	RANK		STATE	TAX RATE (¢ per pack)	RANK
Alabama (1)	16.5	43		Nebraska	34	26
Alaska	100	2		Nevada	35	25
Arizona	58	15		New Hampshire	52	17
Arkansas (2)	31.5	29		New Jersey	80	6
California	87	4		New Mexico	21	37
Colorado	20	38		New York (1)	111	1
Connecticut	50	19		North Carolina	5	49
Delaware	24	32		North Dakota	44	21
Florida	33.9	27		Ohio	24	32
Georgia	12	46		Oklahoma	23	36
Hawaii	100	2		Oregon	68	11
Idaho	28	31		Pennsylvania	31	30
Illinois (1)	58	15		Rhode Island	71	10
Indiana	15.5	44		South Carolina	7	48
Iowa	36	24		South Dakota	33	28
Kansas	24	32		Tennessee (1) (2)	13	45
Kentucky (2)	3	50		Texas	41	23
Louisiana	24	32		Utah	51.5	18
Maine	74	9		Vermont	44	21
Maryland	66	12		Virginia (1)	2.5	51
Massachusetts	76	7		Washington	82.5	5
Michigan	75	8		West Virginia	17	41
Minnesota	48	20		Wisconsin	59	13
Mississippi	18	39		Wyoming	12	46
Missouri (1)	17	41		Dist. of Columbia	65	13
Montana	18	39
				U. S. Median	34.0

 

Source: Compiled by FTA from various sources
(1) Counties and cities may impose an additional tax on a pack of cigarettes in AL, 1¢ to 6¢; IL, 10¢ to
(2) Dealers pay an additional enforcement and administrative fee of 0.1¢ per pack in KY and 0.05¢ in TN. In AR, a $1.25/1,000 cigarette fee is imposed.

State Tax/Legislator information includes Federal tax

[pcl]

The site you sent me to does not carry my brand.

This is where I shop.

[Fraulein]

When they tax your meat, and further raise the tax on alcohol, because of the high health risks...don't come crying here! (Hey, I don't drink, or eat meat, so it's no skin off my back!)

The Reiner tax raised the cost of cigarettes an additional 50 cents per pack in order to fund liberal "childhood development programs" (which created 56 new county agencies). Tell me, why should smokers pay for that?

I also think that you need to read this:

States Are Frittering Away The Money They Extorted From The Tobacco Firms

[Max McGarrity]

Let the addicted pay!

Well, well, here you are again spouting trash and acting as if you knew something. Thanks for the opportunity of once again setting you straight.

After the Clinton administration proposed a substantial increase in the cigarette tax as a way of funding health care reform, CRS economist Jane Gravelle and colleague Dennis Zimmerman wrote a paper entitled "Cigarette Taxes to Fund Health Care Reform and Economic Analysis." (CRS, Library of Congress, #94214 E ). They set out to measure the magnitude of costs, including spillover effects, and compare them with the existing level of cigarette taxes to determine whether an increase in cigarette taxes was justified. They found that (this was in 1994, remember) the cost per pack of cigarettes was 33 cents. At the time, the sum of federal, state, and local cigarette taxes was already 50 cents per pack. The ONLY way to crunch the numbers so that it seems smokers are not paying their own way is to assume that nonsmokers enjoy perfect health and eternal life.

To make it fair, YOU people should be paying US to smoke!

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

i SAY LET THE ADDICTED PAY! for their own selfishly brought on diseases.

Hey pinhead, what sector of society do you think the majority of smokers represent?

For anyone else thinking the same, your thought obviously necessitates a response. The poor. Why doesn't it make sense to overtax the poor? Again, for those thinking the same as the above, because it creates further ammunition for the liberals to increase taxes on the hard working successful people in this country to compensate for the drain they are creating on the poor.

The taxes are not benefitting health care for these people as originally promised,that still comes out of the pockets of hard working successful people.

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

California loses 100's of thousands each year in health care, yet receives INCREASES every year! Liberals at their finest!