Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Wednesday, January 08, 2014

High Tobacco Taxes Spark Huge Black Market In Northeast

High-cigarette tax jurisdictions are losing out on up to $729 million in tax revenue each year due to illicit trade in tobacco products.

That is according to a new study from the nonprofit research organization RTI International. The figure represents an upper-end estimate of aggregate revenue foregone by the cities of Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Providence and Washington, DC. All five are top destinations for cigarette smugglers seeking to take advantage of high cigarette tax rates that push economy-minded buyers, including underage smokers seeking to avoid high, legal prices, to the black market.

More

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

When will Democrats learn that excessive taxes hurt revenue and tax collection. Virginia's tobacco tax revenue is steady growing. Does anyone have the numbers of the last 10 years of Maryland tobacco tax revenues?

Anonymous said...

was bad enough supporting my own habit, but when the government decided to rape me so they can take my money and give it to some lazy ignorant trash that don't want to be educated or work then it was time to quit! Hope they don't start taxing breathing!

Anonymous said...

The underground economy is flourishing!

Non-recorded cash for labor and non-documented cash for products are providing avenues for the lower-middle and poor to survive.

Meanwhile, the revenue deficient(Ya-right) governments are taxing the remaining citizens to the breaking point.

Anonymous said...

1023 actually the gov was taking your cancer stick money to pay for the resources being spent on taking care of your ilk, which often included those who required the feds to take care of their healthcare. Seems like a fair "pay as you go" system to me.

Anonymous said...

Oh how you people fall for the BS 10:51.--- "actually the gov was taking your cancer stick money to pay for the resources being spent on taking care of your ilk,"

That's the problem with you people! You've been socially engineered to believer everything out of a politicians mouth.
You know what the money goes to 10:51-governement created task forces to not only "help people quit" but also things like money to LE agencies to investigate black market and anything else they can dream up. It's nothing more than a way to create more government jobs-PERIOD! It's time you people, crawl out from under the rocks you all have been under and see how it works in the real world!

ginn said...

10:51AM
Can you point to facts/statistics that will back your claim? If you actually believe that tobacco taxes are used is such ways then you're dreaming.

Anonymous said...

10:51's comment exemplifies why the US is going to hell in a handbasket. Clueless and either does or can vote.

Anonymous said...

10:51 worked all my life have my own health insurance never took a dime I didn't work for. Just tired of being taxed and raped by the government so aholes like you can leech off of the rest of us! do yourself and all of us a favor it's called euthanasia !

Anonymous said...

So there are multiple examples of states successfully crafting anti smoking measures with their tab. tax money. Multiple examples of the tax having a positive impact on tobacco use, and by extension health care expenditures. And one of the biggest outlays for many states that impose these taxes are HEALTHCARE!

1229 smokers take plenty of others dimes when we're forced to subsidize their terminal care. They soak up way more dollars with end of life care than they put in with insurance premiums. And perhaps you should look up some smoking stats. These taxes hit poor smokers directly so again, maybe you should be happy that they are paying into the system that they are relying on.