Remember when smoking was glamorous (and cheap)?
Posted on 12/10/2011 6:15:59 PM PST by Libloather
New York City sues roll-your-own-smokes shops
Sees tax evasion in do-it-yourself business
By David B. Caruso - Associated Press
Monday, November 21, 2011
NEW YORK — There is no place in the U.S. more expensive to smoke than New York City, where the taxes alone will set you back $5.85 per pack.
Yet smokers who visit Island Smokes, a “roll-your-own” cigarette shop in Chinatown, can walk out with an entire 10-pack carton for less than $40, thanks to a tax loophole that officials in several states are trying to close.
The store is one of a number around the country that have come under fire over their use of high-speed cigarette-rolling machines that function as miniature factories and can package loose tobacco and rolling papers into neatly formed cigarettes, sometimes in just a few minutes.
Customers select a blend of tobacco leaves, feed the tobacco and some paper tubes into the machines, and return to the counter with the finished product to ring up the purchase.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
should read: NYC kills free enterprise and the spirit of entrepeneurship.
Nanny State PING!
Liberalism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, is not being taxed and regulated.
The Executive branch legislating again.
A carton of premium smokes is about $15 in St. Martin (Dutch West Indies). Heinekens are 2 for $3 at the Get Wet Beach Bar.
Of course. That's why Hertz, Budget and Enterprise are now taxicab companies, all their cars must be licensed by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission and carry medallions. After all, they do the same thing - rent machines that allow people to do something that the authorities might want to tax.
Oh, you mean it isn't so? Then perhaps someone is illegally inventing laws?
I spent the last 2 summers building skateboard parks in NYC w/itinerant crews from other places. Nobody paid the $13/pack unless push came to shove. Everyone was rolling them, which bothered me because it slowed us down and became a point of contention with non-smokers.
The Executive branch legislating again.
This is pretty scary... It could mean that these same appointed bureaucrats might determine that anyone who reloads their own ammunition also falls under the status of "manufacturer," effectively banning reloading.
Mark
Prices are going up, about 6 years ago they were $10 per carton.
Have a ciggie roll in en-masse protest at Bloomers palace of tyranny. Also a drive across the Verrazano Bridge now is a $13.00 extortion ripoff. E’ff what the LIEberals have done to a once great city.
It’s ridiculous if you’re a smoker in Manhattan, you’re paying something like $13-$18 a pack. I’m proudly not. Instead I decided (MY WORDS.. I knew the risks) to addict myself to smokeless tobacco when I was playing high school football in Atlanta. It’s about $9 per can of Skoal in NYC. Outside of NYC, in NYS its around $7-$8 per can (inclusive of taxes). I last lived in Northern Virginia, and my parents have since moved there. It’s less than $5 there. God Bless the Commonwealth!
I quit smoking almost 2 years ago but if I were to pick up the habit again, I’d definitely purchase a rolling machine. It’s amazing how cheap they are and think of the savings.
They obviously didn't know what they were doing. My husband can knock out a full pack in less than 10 minutes. Even I can make at least half a pack in about that time, and I am no where near as proficient as he is.
Not just the $$$ savings, there are no nasty chemical additives in the tobacco. That difference is just as amazing as the $$$ difference.
Remember when smoking was glamorous (and cheap)?
Bingo.
They already do in my town.
I remember an old hoppie in college telling me, “Roll the middle and the ends will take care of themselves.”
(shrug) I guess the same would apply to tobacco?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.