Leave it to New York lawmakers to find a way to stimulate an industry they would prefer just go away. No, I’m not talking about the run on guns leading up to their rushed gun control laws. I’m talking about the highest in the nation cigarette taxes. While the New York economy trudges along, the smuggling business is booming.
If we can’t lead in freedom, prosperity or employment, we can at least be the capital of piracy. (Cigarette smuggling piracy, that is.)
The Midland, Mich.-based Mackinac Center has released smuggling reports in 2006 and 2009, in addition to its most recent report covering 2011. In 2006, the Mackinac Center estimated that New York had the fifth highest smuggling rate in the country as 35.81%. In 2008, New York’s state excise tax on cigarettes nearly doubled, going from $1.50 to $2.75 per pack. In the Mackinac Center’s 2009 report, New York rose to number two on the list, with a smuggling rate of 47.35%. State excise taxes rose again in 2010, going from $2.75 to the state’s current $4.35. Not surprisingly, the 190% increase in state excise taxes from 2006 through 2011 catapulted New York to its title as the most smuggled state.
But this still leaves a pressing question. Where are all of these smokes coming from? It’s not as if Al Gore’s global warming has suddenly turned New York into a great place to grow tobacco. According to another analysis, the largest (illegal) exporter of cigarettes to the Big Apple was New Hampshire.How could that happen?
Oh, and it isn’t just the smugglers who are doing well. The Indian Tribes have been pretty successful in manufacturing their own cigarettes. But the government raids on their businesses don’t help. They want to crush the tribes just like they’re crushing the roll-your-own smoke shops. Not that there aren’t a few enterprising individuals trying to do something about that.
The moral of the story is, when government goes about trying to the control the behavior of law abiding citizens, it’s usually the criminals who make out like bandits. (Pun intended.)
…and here’s another thing I’ve just become aware of: The FDA has not gotten behind personal vaporizers (e-cigarettes) as a smoking cessation device because, they claim, there needs to be more studies on the safety and efficacy as a cessation program. Never mind that there are already years of studies, no ill effects were observed, and if your goal is to quit smoking it’s an EXCELLENT way to do it (I have been using one for a while, reducing the nicotine level and envision a painless “stop” this year). Well, NOW, interestingly, FDA is pushing to label and regulate them as a smoking cessation device. Why? Because it would then be a MEDICAL DEVICE and taxed as such under Obamacare. Which will make them too expensive for most people to try, and they will not be covered under insurance of course. These people just SUCK. I’m stocking up on supplies in order to be able to make it (financially) to tobacco freedom. It’s unfortunate—I tried everything, and this was the only thing that immediately and painlessly got me off regular cigarettes and they intend to screw that up, too….
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Liberty 5-3000…
On December 31, 1985, just before midnight, I lit up my last cigarette. Then, as I watched the ball come down, I wadded up the remains of my last pack of smokes and threw them away.
My wife had given me something called “Cig-arrest” as a Christmas present. It consisted of an audiotape of the most boring man ever recorded babbling about stuff I have no memory of, and fifteen pills, to be taken for five days, three pills a day.
That was the entire quit smoking program, one tape and fifteen pills. I have no clue as to why the tape was included, but the pills were intended to lesson the desire to smoke as the nicotene levels dropped to zero in the body, which they say takes three days. After that (they say) any desire to smoke is mental and not caused by the bodys desire for the drug.
I took the pills for four days – not the recommened five – and kept the remaining three pills for about a half year… just in case.
It all worked fine, I have not smoked – nor have I wanted to smoke – for over 25 years. I have literally saved thousands of dollars, money not spent on cigarattes and their taxes. And I don’t smell like a stale ashtray anymore, something all smokers may not realize that they do… 24/7. Smokers smell… bad. Really. They may not think so, but they do. And the joke is one them, they can’t smell themselves… or other smokers.
Yes, there were many times that first year I automatically reached for a cigarette that was no longer there, habit more than anything else, but the craving to smoke no longer existed once my body was free of nicotene.
I have no idea whether it was my desire to quit or whether it was actually the “Cig-arrest” pills that did it.
A dissappointing reality is that today’s “cig-arrest” program is a long, drawn out affair that costs ten times as much and takes ten times as long as the product I used. Perhaps the original product was far to effective for them to make any serious money on.
One thing I did learn from the whole process… Once the physical craving caused by nicotene in the body is gone, the rest is alll mental. At that point, if you REALLY want to quit, it’s easy.
A caution: If you quit permanently, your circle of friends will change. You will make friends of people who just could not stand to be near you because of the way you smelled when you smoked.
The smell of a cigarette being smoked does not bother me at all. but the ashtray – and the smokers breath, clothes… and house?
Ugh.
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If I was a smoker in New York State, I would have long ago figured it was worth my while to hop in the car and drive a few hours to either Virginia or one of the upstate Indian Reservations upstate and stock up on carton upon carton of low-tax or untaxed smokes- maybe bring a few cartons back on behalf of some fellow smokers to cover the cost and time of the trip.
Unfortunately, a diverse array of bad actors such as the Hell’s Angels, IRA, Latin Kings, Bulgarian Mafia, Cosa Nostra, Hezbollah and others have figured this out and are making millions. And instead of even a modest pullback in the cigarette taxes in New York (to undercut the profiteering of aforementioned groups), the statists bleat that they’re losing money when they whole plan was to make smoking so cost prohibitive that smokers would quit out of financial neccesity…..
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You should see the lines outside the Indian smoke shops. It doesn’t matter what day of the week or what time of day you drive by, they’re always packed.
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