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 ...
Why pay more to kill yourself than you have to?
I envision the day where our government will be giving out free cigarettes to everyone to relieve the strain on medicare and social security.
Don't tell me that higher cigarette taxes was really going to go to stop smoking initiatives < /S >
I often wonder if people are liberals because they are stupid or they are stupid because they are liberals.
Right you are. My beloved father smoked cigarettes for 45 years and died of cardiac arrest at 60. I haven't smoked them and am going to be 78 in May. And I can still think.
LOL Indeed. I am born and bred in NYC, and I don’t wanna meet Vinnie the Kneebuster, either!
Regards,
You make a good point with that. Also, anyone who has traveled abroad has to have noticed the huge (compared to the US) percentage of people who smoke. Especially true in Asian countries. Good that they like American cigarettes.
Because they're stupid?
The cops I know REALLY wish the City would stop wanting them to deal with “tobacco enforcement.” Besides, where do you think the cops buy THEIR cigarettes? Not from the 7-11, that’s for sure.
Regards,
It’s because they are intellectually lazy.
If those cops are buying their cigarettes from them, how do you know they are not also transacting for the pols in their district?
Cigarette taxes apre the most regressive taxes in the US. One study found poor people paid 25% of their entire income in cigarette taxes. All to pay for the bicycle trails in lilly white neighborhoods.
“How that in and of itself does not cause people to stop is beyond me.”
Because they’re stupid?
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Well yes, to put it bluntly. But be careful what you say about this because some jerk off named jonascord actually threatened me for being “smug” due to my comment in this thread.
“Top-O-Matic”
You can still buy ‘em new, but looks like you got a good deal at the yard sale:
http://www.amazon.com/Lighter-USA-T2MAC-Top-O-Matic-Cigarette/dp/B002SR9PPY
Well...I don’t. I must say, though, that I don’t know too many cops who can even STAND the politicians, let alone feel the need to help them.
Then again, the policemen I know are nearing the ends of their careers, as they mostly have 25+ years on the job. I don’t know too many of the younger guys, so I can’t really comment on them. “It’s possible” is as far as I’m willing to go on that.
Regards,
I don’t smoke, but it is an established fact that alcohol causes more death and destruction than smoking ever has or ever will. Why no enormous tax on alcohol?
It’s amazing how much anguish *is possible* that your post portrays. If cities like New York descend into political payoff corruption then all bets are off.
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