"This tax increase is more about saving lives - mostly about saving young lives - than it is about revenues...",Uh...yeah...right.
How long do you suppose it will be before the first tobacco related drive-by shooting? Or a tie-in with terrorists as well as the usual mob types?
I don't know about the drive-by; but there are three of us at our house who smoke, so I usually buy three or more cartons at a time. I don't dawdle getting them into the car, and I never leave them in plain site.
As for the mob tie-in, I'm certain it's already there. I suspect the mob has put out some healthy "donations" to get these increases passed.
I live in Virginia--and the prices are outrageous here (about $38/carton for name brands). Now that I've seen the retail cost in NY, however, I think it's almost my patriotic duty to drive up that way occasionally and keep some of that excess money from going to the mob, the tyrants, or the terrorists :)