60% of cigarettes sold in New York are smuggled

[Bigblue1]

Serves the bastards right for Making the tax rate ludicrous. Mine as well make the damn things Illegal if your gonna cost most people out of buying them legally, IMO.
http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/10/news...-tax-new-york/

[halocog]

Good! From what I've seen, at least in my state, the tax dollars don't go to anything useful at all anyway.

[Zimobog]

Proof that prohibition WORKS!!!! *sarcastic

[tattooer601]

Its what happens when people have to fight for what they enjoy in life...

[Crow]

Also, he said that some Native America reservations sell tax-free cigarettes, and this is why New York State has a "long-running dispute" with the Oneida Indian Nation.

Good. They deserve just compensation in some form. Let them have casinos, and let them sell fireworks and tobacco without taxes. It's the least we can do.

[OregonNative]

I don't smoke, but I still believe charging $10-12/pack is BS.

[wojcik49]

Go to indian reservations for cigs...dont get ripped off by taxes

[SnusoMatic]

only government can raise cig taxes that high and then be surprised when people refuse to pay them.

[spirit72]

Lulz

[sgreger1]

Well I mean cigs kill people right? Surely anything that can be used to harm ones self or others should be banned (Re: guns). Banning it will of course make it less available and we will see less instances of it occurring!

This illustrates well the point that banning things in America doesn't mean they go away, it just means they go underground, which actually makes the situation worse. Prohibition, war on drugs, assault weapon bans, it's all giving away rights for the illusion of safety.

[daz]

it's getting almost as bad as here in the uk where about 80% of the price of a pack of smokes is the tax put on them by the customs and excise men

[GN Tobacco Sweden AB]

Cigs in Norway cost 101 NOK

[kevs]

And last time I was in Norway, snus was 100NOK

[Skell18]

£11 a pack in norway! Fook that, I thought cigs were expensive here at almost £8 apack

[Duff338]

In the 80's to mid 90's in NY you would hear people on the street pitching various drugs, yelling as you walked by. "I got black tops(crack)! I got DOA and Murder One(dope)!" Now you hear, "I got Newports! Marlboro!".