In 2010, New York State raised its cigarette tax, now the highest in the nation from $2.75 to $4.10 per pack of cigarettes.
According to The Daily Caller, the tax increase has raised the price of a pack of cigarettes to $10.60. I beg to differ.
I have not seen a pack of cigarettes for $10.50 in several years but then I am not a smoker and the price per pack may depend upon the cigarettes purchased.
All of that aside, the last time I noticed, one pack of cigarettes cost $12.50.
Moving on….the consequences of NYS’ cigarette tax being the highest in the nation, a 190 percent tax increase on cigarettes since 2006, means that cigarette smokers are (a) traveling across state lines for their smokes; (b) purchasing their smokes through Native American outlets to save $6 per pack; or (c) purchasing their smokes on the black market.
In addition, NYS is suffering a huge loss of revenue. (What did they expect?)
New York state cigarette tax collections have plunged by about $400 million over the past five years, according to figures and estimates from the office of New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
And New York has also lost $1.3 billion in uncollected state cigarette taxes each year from alternative sales, according to a separate study…
Compounding the offense of the government to tax smokers to death, “smokers are slapped with an extra $1.50 per pack on top of the state tax. (On top of that, there’s federal excise tax of $1.01, and an 8 percent sales tax of almost 80 cents, using our example.)”
So how will the State handle the loss of revenue?
They will raid grocery stores, newspaper and fruit stands who might be selling out of state or black market cigarettes.
In addition, Native American cigarette outlets will be audited.
All will take place while the nanny states runs fear mongering television ads that no one with the exception of young children watches to dissuade New Yorkers from smoking.
Mind you, the above game plan has been underway for more than a decade and has changed nothing.
FAIL!
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