Cigarette Packs At $10 Have NYC Smokers Fuming

[OhioChick]

State Now Has Highest Cigarette Taxes In Nation

POSTED: 11:17 am EDT June 3, 2008
UPDATED: 12:05 pm EDT June 3, 2008

ALBANY, N.Y. -- New Yorkers start paying the highest cigarette taxes in the nation Tuesday with the latest $1.25 spike per pack that officials expect to bring in $265 million a year.

Convenience stores across the state and the smokers who will be paying the price are angry about the change, but health officials hail the tax increase as a success. Cigarette taxes will raise a total of $1.3 billion for the state budget in fiscal year 2008-2009, including the new tax.

"Isn't that something -- to say that I'm excited about a tax increase? But I am," said Dr. Richard Daines, the New York health commissioner. "This is a public health victory. We know one of the really effective tools to get people off of their nicotine addiction is to the raise the price."

Smokers will be paying $2.75 per pack in state taxes, a jump from the previous tax of $1.50. Before the new tax, the average price of a pack of cigarettes was $5.82 statewide, and about $8 a pack in New York City, which levies its own taxes, Daines said. The new retail price for a pack in the city could now soar past $10, depending on the store.

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/16474998/detail.html

10 Bucks a pack? :wow: If they're looking for "health victories" they should also look at taxing the hell out of booze and fast food, as well. :shrug:

[LordJFT]

1. fast food yes, booze isn't unhealthy if not abused

[kenny blankenship]

2. I think this level of taxation will begin to defeat its own purposes

At $10 a pack there will be a roaring business in black market cigarettes.

[dsc]

3. they also tax booze big time as well

[keep_it_real]

4. $10 a pack will price a lot of people out of the habit

But some peeps will still pay the price for their habit.

[HockeyMom]

7. My daughter is visiting me in Florida

$27 a CARTON. Bringing them back. Besides, the Shinnecock Reservation isn't THAT far from NYC. Take a side trip to the Hamptons. Have a nice day.

[Winterblues]

23. It will make a major dent in teen agers starting to smoke..

It is an addicting drug , and those with that addiction will do most anything to get their fix, but it will keep many, many younger people from ever starting.. I am 100% for this tax and believe it should be higher..

[Whoa_Nelly]

5. Well, Gwarsh, Sargent Carter! Ya think raisin' gas prices has the same thing goin' fer it?

Ah'm just dumbstruck and struck dumb!

SHAZAM!

[PDJane]

6. They're that much here, and have been for a long time.....

doesn't seem to have stopped anyone, although they do tend to smoke less and do not give out freebies as much.

[NashVegas]

8. They Can Always Handroll

If they're that upset.

[OhioChick]

9. I can faintly remember my father doing that

when I was very young. At that time, many did.

[Wiley50]

10. When I brought my boat down from L.I. in '05, it was already $6/pk in NJ.

I couldn't believe it. I had brought several cartons up from TN with me that I bought for $15 each. But I ran out about the time I got it rigged and sailed up L I sound and through the city. The trip took me all the way down the Jersey shore, then in on the Delaware River and up the other side to the C&D canal over to the Chessie. So I had to buy smokes for about two weeks in NJ.

They don't even sell cartons in Convenience stores in NJ anymore. Best price I could find was $6/pk for Camel or Pall Mall un filters. Everything else was dollars higher.

I hope I never have to set foot or sail in NJ again.

[ileus]

11. booze yes, fast food isn't unhealthy if not abused.

[cynatnite]

12. Off brand smokes in VA can be bought for $20 a carton...

Of course, if a person wants to smoke bad enough...they will. I don't see this having that much of a dent in the smoking population.

[Malikshah]

13. Last time I was in the UK, smokes were 5 pound 20....that's over

10 a pack...

[KoKo]

14. TAX MC Donalds.......they are KILLERS, too...along with the rest of Fast Food Restaurants! eom.

[Wizard777]

16. Tax gyms too. They've killed a few people I'v e known.

[Wizard777]

15. Yeah it works so well with cocaine addictions. 100.00 per gram ensures only billionares use it.

:sarcasm:

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. this is ironic

I quit smoking 10 years ago partly because the cost of cigs..which were something like ..god, I don't know..almost 2.00 a pack?
So have been congratulating myself on all the money I saved all this time.

then filled the car with gas this week, it costs 15.00 more to "filler up"
than it did in 1998.
shoulda got a car that ran on cigarettes.

Now there's an idea....

[Doityourself]

29. I remember me and two siblings saving money to buy our mom a pack of cigs for Xmas in early

70's and we each had to come up with 25 cents...yep, I remember they were 75 cents a pack and we though that was a whole lot of money..lmao!

[dysfunctional press]

18. it'll be interesting to see if they achieve the $265million that they're predicting...

people will be quitting, or going out of state...and the black market guys will be raking it in.

we'll see how the state does.

[11Bush]

19. NYBS

The last thing NY wants is for people to quit smoking. That would be equivalent to killing the golden goose. It's all about the MONEY! Nothing more, nothing less.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

20. Not much sympathy for those big, blue cities, huh? -nt

[Sgent]

21. This is getting rediculous

its a regressive tax on the poor (who smoke more) and the mentally ill (44% of smokers).

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

22. Well, it a tax you can get away from. -nt

[jmowreader]

24. What was the name of the bill, the "Wean Native Americans Off Casinos Act"?

There are eleven Native American Nations in the state of New York, of which ten are federally recognized. All ten of those nations are going to get Fucking Rich selling tax-free smokes to people who come in from outside the reservation to save lots of cash.

[Auggie]

25. Hellooooo, blackmarket...

[LeftistGorilla]

26. We have $10 pack of smokes in Ontario...

Bootleg smokes and store robberies are the immediate results...

[Doityourself]

27. Expensive habit. In the Casinos in Atlantic City they are $11 per pack.

[devilgrrl]

28. Say hello to black market tobacco

All that tax is going to do is create a new criminal underworld.