NYC is the cigarette smuggling capital of the US: study

NY Post ^ | 11 November 2017 | Gregory Bresiger

[oh8eleven]

For 2015, the most recent reporting year, the state lost $1.63 billion because of untaxed sales, according to figures released by analysts for the Tax Foundation.

City officials say they are aware of the huge extent of the illegal sales, but defend high cigarette taxes as saving lives. Money, money, money ...

[oh8eleven]

Loosies.

[Yo-Yo]

When the combined State and City tax on cigarettes comes to $5.85 per pack, smuggling becomes economically lucrative.

[RedStateRocker]

It should be no function of the government whatsoever to regulate what I put in my body.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

The state did NOT “lose 1.63 billion dollars. If the cigarette tax were lower the smuggling would be less.. That 1.63b was not there to lose in the first place.

Exactly. If they raised the toll on the GW Bridge to $1000, they'd multiply that by the previous year's traffic and decide that they lost a trillion bucks in tolls because most people started using the Lincoln Tunnel.

[Gay State Conservative]

Walk down any street in Mid-town Manhattan and you see those halal food carts that also sell smokes.Major brands go for something like $12 a pack.

[fhayek]

They raise taxes on the sale of cigarettes. Then they project the millions of dollars this will bring in additional revenue. The state then spends that additional revenue, however... smokers either quit smoking, buy cigarettes tax free on Indian reservations or buy on the black market. The projected additional revenue never materializes. And the brilliant politicians keep doing the same thing time and again.

[WatchungEagle]

Remember the NYC police killed that man who was selling untaxed cigarettes and passively resisted arrest. The tax collectors fly into a rage when they don’t get what they want.

[oh8eleven]

passively resisted arrest
I   don't   think    so.

[Kozy]

“City officials say they are aware of the huge extent of the illegal sales, but defend high cigarette taxes as saving lives.”
If you are concerned about saving lives, then ban tobacco products. Save lives and eliminate the cigarette police and save money.

[Boomer One]

High taxation or banning of any item just creates more opportunities for illegal distribution. Where there is sufficient demand for an item the supply will rise to meet demand.

[Terry Mross]

Who didn’t see this coming?

People bringing cigs in from out of state. Can’t blame them.

People quitting smoking because it costs too much. A good thing.

Results: Less tax revenue.

[Rebelbase]

[Bonemaker]

I’m all for resisting these rotten laws. Don’t the dems carry “resist” signs all the time? If there are any politicians left alive who voted for prohibition...find them. And don’t get me started on the smoking banners,,.there are a lot of them left alive.

[Freee-dame]

New York certainly has created many “criminals” that they can arrest any time they want to, claiming it is for smuggling cigarettes.

[outofsalt]

Almost 4 decades ago they had sidewalk chiropractors offering loose joints!)

[MileHi]

...but defend high cigarette taxes as saving lives.

Love to see them prove that.

[vette6387]

You need to add in “The War on Drugs!” This “war” has been the LEO’s dream. Lots of cops employed, drug money confiscated and put to use buying war-making equipment and more cops. You have to ask yourself why they haven't been in any way minimally successful? Answer: They like it just the way it is, because like nearly everything in government, it's “real purpose” is as a jobs program. Doing anything really constructive, is just happenstance.

[Kartographer]

There was one from when you crossed over the Walbash River from Southern Indiana into Illinois I am sure many a sumgler seeing the sign and realizing what he was going was illegal stopped and turned around just like killers when they see No Gun Zone Signs do.

[I want the USA back]

So people buy cigarettes in a low tax state, and sell them in a tax hell. Doesn’t take a genius to foresee that that was going to happen.

[Spok]

Where the Democrats are in charge, criminals prosper.