Posted on 12/13/2015 5:45:30 AM PST by jalisco555
SYRACUSE, N.Y. â The number of state-taxed cigarette packs sold in New York has plummeted by 54 percent in the past decade.
That's far outpacing the 19 percent decline in New Yorkers who have quit smoking over the same time.
Instead, more smokers are buying cigarettes in ways that avoid New York's $4.35 per pack tax, the highest in the nation. They cross state lines, shop from black market vendors and travel to Native American outlets to save $6 per pack or more, experts say.
New York is losing big. In the past five years, the state's cigarette tax collections have dropped by about $400 million, according to data and estimates from the office of state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
Consider: A pack of Marlboro Reds bought in the town of Onondaga recently cost $10.58. That includes a state tax of $4.35 per pack, a federal excise tax of $1.01 per pack, and 8 percent sales tax of 78 cents.
Just down Route 11, the Onondaga Nation runs a small tobacco store with a 24-hour drive-through. There, a pack of Senecas costs just $4. That likely includes that $1.01 federal excise tax, according to several experts.
(Excerpt) Read more at syracuse.com ...
Anyone who thinks about this will be a Laffer...
Apparently not if you are a liberal.
My mother’s brother, who was a smoker, and his wife (who wasn’t) lived on Long Island. We lived in Virginia.
Every three months or so, we would get a visit from them—Which was great because they were super people.
During these visits my uncle would stock up on cigarettes—dozens of cartons—because tobacco taxes were so much lower in Virginia.
This was back in the late 60’s/early 70’s.
Nothing more than legal prohibition. This was a women’s issue just like alcohol.
Imagine $10.00 per pack. I used to smoke 2 packs daily (I quit in 1985 when two packs cost me $1.40 ($.70 each)
At $10.00 each or $20.00 daily it comes to $600.00 per month or $7,200 annually.
How that in and of itself does not cause people to stop is beyond me.
Economics 101 aka things that liberals nannystaters fail at.
Mastic Beach in Suffolk county on Long Island has the poospatuck Indian reservation. Cheap cigarettes and gasoline.
New Yorkers drive up to New Hampshire to buy cigarettes and Booze as they pay a bundle less there then drive back to N.Y.
My folks use to do the same only we lived in Los Angeles and would drive to Tijuana for a booze run.
less than half and NO federal taxes.
Good news for the indians.
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/08/after_ny_tax_hikes_indian_shop.html
I re-started hunting in 1976 (had started in the mid 60s then stopped in the late 60s). The land I had access to was hilly and steep... There I was at 27 huffing and puffing from climbing the steep hills. Quit smoking that season and never looked back. Plus I saved the cost of 2 packs a day. The health benefits now that I’m in my mid 60s are most certainly there.
Win, win. Smoking should be a personal choice but my recommendation is that nobody should do it.
In liberal Econ 101: just increase the tax to cover the lost tax from those buying elsewhere to avoid high taxes. Simple
Like gun laws....
Cig laws have no impact on those who really want them (and cheaper).
“I often wonder if any liberals took a economic 101 course....ever”
Here is one (former) liberal who did take an Ecocn 101 course and much later wrote a very enjoyable book about the same.
http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Rich-A-Treatise-Economics/dp/0871137607
P.J. O’Rourke
This is also excellent!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=661pi6K-8WQ
EAT THE RICH! Bill Whittle
I don’t smoke so *this* isn’t an issue for me but I live less than 30 minutes from a *huge* shopping mall in sales-tax-free New Hampshire.The only major purchase on which I’ve paid state sales tax in the last 5 years was on a couple of cars.And I’m *moving* to New Hampshire soon so *that* will never happen again.
I visit NYC regularly and I believe,but am not certain,that they have a *city* cigarette tax there as well as a state tax.In the city I routinely see $12 a pack.
I can’t wait to see what the NY political mafia cook up to try to get that revenue back!
All liberals know what they are doing-
there are quite a few Demon rat cities and
states that are doing what New York is doing-
because they hate big tobacco-(allies with the repugs)
BUT THEY do not hate:
1. marijuana for the masses
2. free needles for illegal drugs
3. gambling everywhere
4. free condoms- and sex classes to minors
5. and of course Tax (O’bummer care) to pay for abortions
See- liberals knew that New Yorkers would not pay that outrageous tax- they just hate big tobacco
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