$9+ Packs of Cigs In NYC Just In Time for Summer
Today’s WSJ opinion section discusses the relationship between cigarette taxes and organized crime (other, more detailed research here by the same author). Given that everyone I know here knows someone who’s seriously considered renting a truck to bootleg cigs from the South, that crime connection isn’t as surprising as the recently increased tax-burden:
On April 23,…Gov. David Paterson signed into law a $1.25 per-pack tax hike on top of the state’s $1.50 per-pack tax. That’s in addition to New York City’s own $1.50 per-pack tax. Come July 1, New York City’s smokers will be paying on average $9 a pack for legal cigarettes.
As a non-smoker, this makes me uncomfortable.
- The health of the smoker is theirs to gamble with.
- My health as an unwilling inhaler of 2nd hand smoke is better protected banning smoking in confined spaces (already done in NYC).
- Smoking-related health care costs being passed on to me may be a valid concern - but I’m not certain this tax remedies that; or is the most efficient remedy. It’s entangled in the larger problem of American health care reform.
- The tax leverages political unpopularity of smoking to pile on ‘sin’ taxes, making it more opportunistic than policy-minded.
Other sins we could tax to cover short-falls include: gambling, serrated knives, A&F thongs for tots, sheepskin condoms and Windows Vista.