Ohio Cigarette Tax Hike A Boon for Northern Kentucky
15th December 2015
My, what a surprise! Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.
Ohio’s recent cigarette tax hike has sent smokers over the border to purchase cheaper tobacco, according to Kentucky’s State Budget Director John Cilton. The Kentucky Budget Office’s latest report notes a hefty spike in the percent of tax receipts collected from cigarettes, up 6.5 percent in November and 1.9 percent overall, citing Ohio’s “recent increase in tobacco taxes” as the most likely culprit.
With House Bill No. 64, the Ohio General Assembly unwisely chose to push millions of dollars in commerce and tax revenue into northern Kentucky, where the excise tax on cigarettes is less than half of Ohio, coming in at 60 cents a pack. With the 35-cent increase from the previous rate of $1.25 per pack, Ohio now has the 23rd highest tax on cigarettes in the nation at $1.60 per pack.
One of the problems of democracy is that periodically new people grasp the reins of power and have to learn all over again that what they want to have happen with their bright ideas isn’t always what happens. The Law of Unintended Consequences is always waiting in the bushes to bite those who do not think things through right square on the butt.