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Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Cigarette Tax Will Mean $10 Packs

Author:     ADRIAN CARRASQUILLO
Source:     MyFox (New York)
Publication Date:     Saturday, 19 Jun 2010, 8:18 PM EDT
 Link: Cigarette Tax Will Mean $10 Packs
Stephan:   Even though I support discouraging tobacco, while permitting its usage that isn't what strikes me about this. We, as a society, can agree to alter individual behavior, through taxation policy, and corporations the Supreme Court tells us are as people. Yet we choose not to exert similar controls on the corporate Virtual States. Why? Because they have the funds to purchase the government they want. What the Gulf Crisis shows us that we must change our policies to make this impossible or, at least more difficult, or this is only going to get worse. The Gulf Disaster is the destination to which our current path leads.

Ten dollars (or more) for a pack of cigarettes? It might soon become a reality in many stores in New York City.

The cigarette tax in New York will jump $1.60 a pack under a deal struck between Governor David Paterson and state government leaders.

The proposal is part of an emergency budget bill that the Legislature approved Monday evening.

In the city, which levies steep taxes of its own on tobacco products, a pack of cigarettes would come with a tax of $5.85, making it the nation’s first city to break $5.

The Paterson administration hopes the proposal would generate $440 million in revenue this year, which would be a help close the state budget gap which is estimated to be over $9 billion. Despite the dire budget situation there is no guarantee that the emergency bill will pass after Republicans threatened to vote against a bill that includes tax increases.

By at least one estimate, half the cigarettes consumed in New York are purchased from Native Americans who don’t collect and pay state taxes. A new proposal would attempt to limit the number of cigarettes purchased from tribes.

Some critics say that the plan sets up conflicts between the state and tribes.

Sen. George Maziarz, […]

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