Additional tobacco tax proposed

Manufacturers of tobacco products, including vaping products, face a proposed tax hike that will generate $100 billion over the next ten years. How much tax are smokers wilingl to pay, and will this tax increase crime by people who unfortunately crave nicotine. My wife has a young nephew with a criminal record and a heavy cigarette addiction. He has a drug history as well and has served prison time twice. I have no doubt that he will revert to crime just to get cigarettes. He has no desire to quit smoking. Neither does his mom who is now on radiation for breast cancer and will soon start chemo. She is a recovering alcoholic and has been sober for 15 years.

Are taxes the answer to tobacco addiction? If not, will increased taxes offset tobacco use?

Regarding illegal drug use, would you favor putting our military at the boarder, much like we employ Coast Guard assets at sea. When do we shoot drug runners who are harming our children and our economy?

Asking for a friend.

You'd be taking on the politicians of Washington D.C.

They want to raise taxes by 2 trillion but only on companies and the wealthy.

Riiiight, get ready to shell out. Everyone of us.

You got that right. The tyrants of bureaucracy will see to that.
Of course if you can shop on a military base or Indian reservation, you could develop quite a black market for the nicotine addicted. As a former nicotine addict, I would have no problem purchasing "cheap" smokes when I still partake.

I'm no ssmoker, but these other trillions in tax raises concern me especially at a time when prices are rising already.

cigarettes are already one of the most taxed items. They now run about 7 to 9 bucks a pack--most of which is taxes.I went to rolling my own a while ago and it costs me less than a candy bar to do so,to roll a pack
Tom

Is a tobacco tax a tax only on the wealthy? Surely just the opposite.

tobacco taxes fall extra heavy on the poor and middle class.

so much for caring for that demographic.

A lot of that I think is state taxes Bog. Here a pack of generic brand can be had for $2.70

All these taxes proposed by Biden and AOC are geared to be viewed as taxes on the "deplorables"; you know, those dirty lowlife smokers and chewers, and the disgusting fat-cats, and the mean and ugly.....

It's all about vindictiveness and creating class warfare. However, the new taxes will negatively effect everyone in the middle class the most.

corporations don't pay taxes...consumers do!

(just another cost of business to be passed along in the price)

Idjets!

Here at the rez, bags of generic loose cigarettes go for $20, thats a cartons worth, I guess they don't pay NY taxes...

I still enjoy smoking my pipe but I've cut back so much that pipe tobacco lasts forever.

It's still legal to grow your own tobacco... Just can't sell it without paying the crown their share.

Mike

Angela,you may be right on that.Dems have controlled this state for a long time,resulting in higher taxes on most everything.
Our so called president should be taxed very heavily--as he is blowing smoke up everyones backside.
Tom

It always irks me when the Dems complain about "Big Corporation" paying no taxes. That is not true. When those big corporation make money it is their shareholders who profit, those shareholders then pay taxes on the dividends and other profits they realize from the stock they own. A lot of the people who benefit financially as shareholders and who pay taxes, don't even realize they are shareholders. All of the pension funds that these little folks are part of profit from these corporations. If you tax the heck out of these corporation it will hurt the small shareholders and pension recipients.

X2
When will people learn the politicians as blowing smoke when they say we will only tax the wealthy?

when they don't teach rational thought in schools, they'll never learn!

When will people learn it's their job to teach their kids? Contracting it out to the socialist government babysitter is not the best option if you want independent thought and critical thinking skills taught.

I looked up some raw numbers on the web.

Roughly the current fed tax on cigarettes is $1.01 per pack. This will double.
RYO is just under $25 a pound. This will double too.
Cigars will about double too.

The real scary stuff is vape products , which help people not to smoke tobacco will go up quite a bit.
Smokeless products will have an insane 2000% increase in their taxation.

For all the non-smokers out there , does this sound crazy ? The end goal is to make everyone quit. Once almost everyone quits , the tax revenue goes away with it. Then the politicians need to find something else to tax to death. What will that be ? Soda , Twinkies , fast food , beer/liquor , meat , or some other item that is deemed unhealthy.

Current price of name brand cigarettes ( Marlboro , Newport ) here is about $13 a pack at places that sell them at a reasonable non price gouging level.

They're creating a nice, lucrative black market.

I quit smoking when a pack of my brand was around $3 give or take. I looked in the case this afternoon, $10.37 a pack. Good Lord. I didn’t bother looking at a can of Copenhagen. Even a mini Bic lighter is just over 3 bucks, I put a new one in my pocket before every winter.



Owl

When I left NY in 2005, a pack of ciggs was about $7. That is if you didn't get them on the Rez. The Indian ciggs I smoked were $10.00/carton or $1/pack. When I moved to IL even the cheapest smokes were $4+/pack, so I started smoking black market ciggs. The I moved to MS and the cheapest ciggs here are $2.70 a pack which was only $.70 more than the black market ones so I switched back to legal ones, lol.

Tax the rich-leave us po folk alone.

It always seems to go the other way.

but that's NOT the goal (even of parents)...they want "easy".

You all could quit smoking. That would teach em!

smoking kills more than covid each year but that's no problem.....

Haven’t you heard. Emphysema, COPD, lung/heart disease, all that stuff is all gone. Coronafluenza24 has cured them all and taken their places. It’s safe to smoke again.



Owl

That never seems to work out the way they claim for some reason.

I don't smoke but if it's legal and I'm guessing it is I may have to grow a few tobacco plants in the garden next year. But I know nothing about it or processing it.

X 2

If everyone quit smoking today they would have to find something else to tax to make up for the short fall.

We really need something to make people quit using breath vapor products, and I was kinda on board about it being taxed till I found out how much it's taxed. So I don't know what would make people quit, because normal cigs just make everything around it smell bad. Plus half the people that use them just makes a mess with the butts and it's a little annoying. I know I may sound a little controlling but my grandma smoked as long as I could remember and she just past away last year because of it, and my grandpa is still with us who is 10 years older who lived with her.
And don't get me wrong, some of the people that I enjoyed working with smoked too, it's just that it's a very unhealthy/poisoning thing to do.

There's more I would like to say/forgot to add that may be important but I hope it suffices.

There are thousands of varieties of tobacco, and many curing techniques. All tobacco is aged and blended for aroma, taste, and smoothness. I grew up in a tobacco farming family in Eastern NC. The only home grown tobacco I ever saw was chewing tobacco. It was twisted and formed in a loop, then dipped in molasses before aging. It was cut into plugs and chewed. I remember seeing my grandfather do this in the 50's.

I doubt anyone smokes their own farm raised tobacco, but almost every kid tried it once.