Maybe it's a sign of the times, but I've noticed an increasing number of crooks getting involved with things that are outside of the law if you know what I mean.

Crooks take advantage of higher cigarette prices

I believe they call themselves RJR. I know the inevitable "pot vs. tobacco" rants are coming, so I'll not start in on that.

I'm just glad tobacco isn't addictive. Welcome to North Carolina where cancer isn't a medical fact - it's an opinion!

Dumbass politicians and their taxes...

Yea it's obvious. Also, "Native Americans" can be included in this category. By law, only "Native Americans" are allowed to buy cigarettes on reservations tax-free. Now I highly doubt they only sell to "Native Americans". The government won't doing anything, God forbid we make them obey laws!

well at least someone gets something outta high smoke prices besides the politic... oh. now i see what it meant by crooks.

Ho. Lee. Crap.

$7 for a pack of smokes?! Inconceivable!

Right on Deevo!

Consarned "Native Americans"...we ought to put 'em all on a boat & send 'em back where they came from!

Article doesn't mention that overall tobacco revenue for New York is WAY DOWN, indicating that either (a) a vast majority of smokers quit, "cold turkey," since the tax hike, or (b) a vast majority of formerly above-counter sales are now black-market.

1) Stupid tariffs...not only are unfree markets immoral from a deontological perspective, but even the utilitarians should dislike them.

2) Deevo -- I'm a native American, and I don't get jack.

And I once complained about paying 7.95CDN for a pack of smokes ! Fortunately, I now smoke only when I'm drunk...

The gummint taxes the crap out of something that people really want, and then there's a black market.

Who coulda seen that coming?

With a pack of cigarettes costing $5 or more in New Jersey and $7 in New York City

Gawd. Smokers in NJ and NY should look into a less expensive habit, like cocaine.

Here in WV cigs are $2.49 - $3.00 a pack for name brands. PA and MD retailers are complaining about lost business because the short trip to WV can save people $10 a carton or more. Meanwhile, WV stores are making beaucoup bucks and the state has no plans to raise the tax. Ahhhh capitalism.

Boy am I glad I quit smoking!

i'm a native american too. i was born right here in the good ol' u s of a. hence, i'm a native american.

This makes perfect sense. Smokes are one of the only luxury many lower income people have. When the tax is increased they can no longer afford their luxury and turn to stealing. Same reason they steal cars, why the hell would they steal a car if they had the money to buy one?

Smokers in NJ and NY should look into a less expensive habit, like cocaine.

Good one!

Blasting a juicy air-biscuit in someone's face is still tax-free, and just as effective.

Sell...I mean smoke 'em if ya got 'em!! They are still pretty cheap here in TX. Still the only time I can take one is if I'm drinkin'.

Boy am I glad I quit smoking!

Me too! I quit in July

Smash and grabs for smokes has been very popular around here for many years.
They should ban the stinky things....

Article doesn't mention that overall tobacco revenue for New York is WAY DOWN, indicating that either (a) a vast majority of smokers quit, "cold turkey," since the tax hike, or (b) a vast majority of formerly above-counter sales are now black-market.

Or, the most likely outcome:

C) Smokers are leaving NY to buy their cigarettes where they're much cheaper.

Why miss the obvious?

in connecticut it got up to about $6 for name brand tobacco, but now you can get them for about $4.25 . Still way to much when you can roll your own for about $1.50

So let me get this straight - smoking not only kills people and creates giant insurance claims, it now drains valuable law enforcement personnel and money, AND people are buying less therefore the states are collecting less taxes (not to mention stores getting less sales and/or robbed a lot)?

Hey, I got an idea. Let's make them illegal. Then a few people with good connections can make enormous profits. Other shmucks that get arrested and get sent to pound you in the ass prison will make a tidy profit for the ever more privatized prison industry at the expense of an ignorant public. The extra revenues can support the ever growing police industry and before long it will be possible to exercise any police-state legislation without the slightest worry of any "civil disobedience" whatsoever. Genius! Seems vaguely familiar though.. Capitalism makes good once again.

Heard from a buddy in the "shipping" business that the most profitable cargo at the moment is smokes to NY.The "Tony and Paulie Walnuts" types were supporting this tax with a ton of walking around money from the very beginning of th proposal.

I grew up in Ontario Canada on the St.Lawrence river, right across from New York state. When I was in high school During the mid 80's I used to smuggle smokes and liquor across the river in a 16 ft boat. I used to make $500 a trip and was even chased by customs once. Paid for a sweet Camaro Z28!

I must say it was the sweetest job I've ever had.

I'm a nonsmoker existing in in CA, and I just recently bought a 2-pack of Marlboros at the liquor store out of my disgust for this bullshiat prohibitionist crusade.

The more these farkers push, the more of my nonsmoking dollars go to big tobacco.

Illithid: why the hell would they steal a car if they had the money to buy one?

How about a joyride? Even more likely, they steal your crappy Honda and hundreds of others so they can take it to a chop shop and make a fortune. The vast majority of cars stolen are stolen by pros.

Smokes are one of the only luxury many lower income people have.

How about malt liquor, lottery tickets, TV, McDonalds, designer clothes with lots of lettering, gambling and crack just to name a few...

this is PROOF. The law is what causes black markets. Pretty soon they will be telling us about how we should give up more of our freedoms so that they can catch these dangerous ciggarette lords.

WOW. How many of you guys out there are paying prices like that for smokes? Here in SW Missouri, they are around 3 bucks a pack. If you're paying 7, doesn't it make sense to join one of those places that I get emails about, like $25 to join and you can get cartons for less than $20?

It is a short drive from the NY/CT/NJ area to states with 2-3 buck smokes. you could earn twice the US avg. annual income easy bootlegging butts 3 days a week. eventually, we will have to realize we have a system of "managing" tobacco consumption that is convoluted and cruel.

cruel? but of course! forcing addicts to pay double - triple - quadruple for that which they are physically dependent upon is 100% cruel, especially when this taxation is done with a smirk (consumption taxes don't discourage those that can afford to pay them do they?)

Why not learn how to balance a budget instead of exploiting addicts?

Illithid
why the hell would they steal a car if they had the money to buy one?

Gee, next thing you know there'll be celebrities stealing clothes or something.

this is PROOF. The law is what causes black markets.

People with a functioning brain learned this lesson from Prohibition.

Why am I not surprised that the hysterical anti-cigarette crowd doesn't know history, either? (Their utter lack of economics knowledge is appallingly obvious.)

the best solution is to purchase your smokes from a retailer on an Indian (n.a.) reservation. i get the best deal on smokes i've seen, my dollars help out these folks, & i get to stick it to the man!

These Californians got bust in a similar sting, although I think they were a little more involved.

they could just dump all the smokes into the river and have their own verison of the boston tea party

I'm in 10th grade right now, and I hate all this anti-smoking propoganda crap. "CIGARETTES CAUSE GLOBAL WARMING!111111" "CIGARETTES ARE DRUGS JUST LIKE LSD!111111"

when my health teacher or any teacher says something about smoking that sounds unlikely, I discedit everything they have to say. Because seriously, you start to doubt everything, it's the way humans think.

and that , is why I dont smoke .. 'cept for maybe a Swischer sweet every once in awhile....

Great Idea Themightyelf... might give inspiration to to something I might end up planning in the future... but instead of Indians, I am thinking of Government officials with tons of cash coming out of their pockets....

Hell I live in California, and the taxes are bad but not that bad...
Here without looking to hard you can find a van and buy cigarettes that lack a state tax sticker at about 25% the cost. Sonn the government is going to have to start a war on Tobacco as the morons in office will have made it more profitable that concaine trafficing, and tobacco is much easier to grow. If our forefathers were alive today, they'd be living in the hills fomenting rebellion against an unfair tyrannical government which is unfairly taxing the people.

BTW...WEll said Pedantic

seven. dollars.

for a pack of smokes.

jesus christ on a fark stick.

I live in NJ.

Price for a carton 'o smokes here = ~$50. (Mostly advertised at $40 "plus tax"...)

My significant other lives within sight of Pennsylvania, where the same carton is $35.

Said SO is also within a short drive of Delaware, where there doesn't seem to be any tax added to the price of the cancer sticks, making the cost more like $25 per carton.

Needless to say, I've not purchased butts in the state of NJ since the taxes were raised.

I hope to hell that there are enough others like myself to cut the state's tax revenue to the point where they are taking in LESS than they did before the taxes were raised.



Actually, I *really* hope that the farking legislators who passed this farking piece of shiat law slip and fall face-first into a bucket of AIDS.

"There outta be a law against that..."

Why so many laws and regulations? Why do those who govern us hunger and thirst for more and more laws to enforce their increasingly narrow vision of righteousness? It's almost as if they wish to create a nation of lawbreakers.

What posible use could there be in making hundreds of millions of citizens liable for criminal prosecution?

I live in Albany, NY and smokes are around $5 a pack, but I rarely by smokes here, I use the internet. I usually pay about $20 dollars a carton, usually $6 in shipping, about $46 for two cartons. Why pay the $50 a carton here?

Dudes, $7 a pack sucks royally. A $3 increase? On top of state and federal taxes that are already about 100%? Fark that! I live in New Mexico, where smoking is like the state's official sport. A couple of forest fires get started ever year by idiots throwing butts out their car windows. Smoke are only $25 a carton! There are drive thru tobacco stores. (Drive thru liquor stores were outlawed in '98 to cut down on drunk driving, so now you have to step out of your car in the drive thru lane.) The reservations advertise their cig prices along with their casinos. It baffles me how our city council (Las Cruces, the 2nd larged city in the state and the side walks still get rolled up at 9 p.m.) outlawed smoking inside or within 50 feet of any doorway to any public building including bars and private clubs. That lasted about a week before a petition, signed by about 70% nonsmokers, got it repealed. I think governance is seriously out of touch with the people.