Those big tax and spenders in Albany (and Washington, DC for that matter) never learn. What happens when you tax the hell out of a product? People stop buying it, or find a way to avoid the tax. That’s exactly what happened with the cigarette tax in New York. No surprise there to anyone with a brain.
Syracuse.com: In New York, the average state, federal and local tax on a pack of 20 cigarettes is now $6.02. That includes an 8 percent combined state and local sales tax, as well as a $1.01 federal excise tax, according to the state tax department.
New York raised its tax $1.60 a pack to generate $260 million to help offset a $9.2 billion budget gap.
The higher tax also pleases anti-smoking advocates, who say it will make New Yorkers healthier. But instead of quitting, Squadrito is buying her cigarettes on the Nation’s shop on Route 11. She stopped buying Marlboros at Lucky 7 at Teall Avenue and Court Street after the tax increase.
But it isn’t just the state that’s losing revenue. Small businesses in New York have been hit hard.
The New York Association of Convenience Stores said field reports show its members lost an average of 25 to 35 percent of their cigarette business in July, with those closest to state borders and tribal lands losing up to 45 percent of their business, said President Jim Calvin. It has also affected the number of customers going to convenience stores in general, causing a loss in non-cigarette sales, he said.
“This tax is only hurting New York State businesses,” said Squadrito, who has smoked for 32 years. “I plan on quitting soon, hopefully, but for right now I just buy the cheaper ones.”
Rather than decrease the tax, the state plans to continue their attack on the sovereignty of the American Indian tribes.
A Seneca Nation businessman who is challenging a federal law that makes it illegal to ship cigarettes through the mail called the seizure of thousands of cartons of his cigarettes from a delivery truck “clear retaliation” for his lawsuit.
The cigarettes were seized Monday, the day before lawyers for Aaron Pierce and 140 members of the Seneca Free Trade Association were due in U.S. District Court in Buffalo to continue their challenge to the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act.
I’ve lived here long enough to know that the tribes aren’t going to take this lying down.
