Washington Finds That Having the Highest Cigarette Tax in The Neighborhood Breeds Smuggling
22nd July 2013
Shocking news! Washington state officials have discovered that hiking taxes on cigarettes way above that inflicted on the residents of neighboring states gives people reason to buy smokes in bulk across the border and peddle them to bargain hunters. Who ever would have guessed? Well, aside from anybody with a brain, that is.
My, what a surprise! Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.
Nationally, cigarette smuggling is a big business, largely because taxes have been hiked sky-high in a nanny-state effort to deter smoking. Putting the emphasis on neo-prohibitionism rather than revenue has resulted in 60.9 percent of cigarettes consumed in New York being sourced from the black market. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (that’s a party!) says state governments lost $5 billion in 2010 because Americans preferred to purchase black market cigarettes rather than get mugged by the authorities.
State officials could lower cigarette taxes to take the profit out of smuggling, but they’d rather use the tax code to send a message. That message seems to be that going to the black market is a great way to save a buck — or make a mint.
July 22nd, 2013 at 10:03
You’re missing the link on this page.
July 22nd, 2013 at 13:42
Fixed now.