Results tagged “cigarettetax”

In an effort to add to the state's coffers, Governor Paterson signed a law into bill that will "enforce the collection of excise taxes on cigarettes sold at Indian-owned stores." The bill requires manufacturers to have the state tax stamp on its tobacco products before selling them to retailers. The excise tax is $2.75, and it's expected that the bill will bring $400 million more in revenue. While, Indian tribes feel the move will hurt them, as smokers won't head to their stores to buy cigarettes any more, Governor Paterson pointed out the law has always stood, it just hasn't been "adequately applied for far too long" and gave" non-Indians easy access to tax-free cigarettes both on the reservations and over the internet." Mayor Bloomberg, who has sued over the untaxed cigarettes, is happy: "The bottom line is everybody should be paying taxes on cigarettes."

But it might make them poor! Today, NY State has introduced an additional $1.25 tax--for a total $2.75 NY State tax--on cigarettes, which means a pack of smokes is likely to cost between $8.00 to $8.50 in NYC (NYC has a $1.25 tax). NY1 got some comments from smokers on the streets:

"Wow, it's a lot of money," said one smoker. "Probably not enough to make me quit. I don't know how much it will take to make me quit."

Smokers, you'll need to save up or shell out or simply quit, as state officials have agreed to increase the tax on cigarettes by $1.25, which would give NY State the highest per-pack tax of $2.75. And in NYC, there's that $1.50 tax, so Big Apple residents will have to pay $4.25 in cigarette taxes.

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