Posted on 08/12/2011 7:27:34 AM PDT by KyGeezer
FRANKFORT — Revenue from Kentucky's cigarette tax is in free-fall, but more Kentuckians kicking the unhealthy habit isn't the only reason for the decline.
State officials say more and more people are turning to cheaper alternatives — little cigars and roll-your-own cigarettes — that aren't covered by the state's 60-cent-a-pack tax.
The little cigars look much like cigarettes but are wrapped in brown paper. They cost about $1.25 a pack, compared to about $3.25 for the cheapest pack of cigarettes.
The move to small cigars and roll-your-own cigarettes is a national trend. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that states have lost $5 billion a year because people are using alternatives that have no state retail cigarette tax.
In Kentucky, state budget officials are predicting a 17.2 percent decline in revenue from the cigarette tax this fiscal year, which ends June 30. Last fiscal year, the state collected $262.4 million from cigarette taxes, down nearly 6 percent from 2010.
It's difficult to say how much of the decline is related directly to cheaper alternatives, but revenue officials say the loss from self-rolled cigarettes and small cigars is possibly in the millions of dollars.
When the legislature agreed to double the cigarette tax in 2009, the move was applauded by health advocates as a way to encourage more people to quit. It also bolstered the state's cash-strapped budget.
At first, cigarette tax revenue increased. But in June 2010, revenue from the tax began to dip.
At the same time, the state Department of Revenue, which collects tobacco-related taxes, saw retailers devote more shelf space to pipe tobacco and roll-your-own tobacco, said Richard Dobson, director of sales and excise taxes for the revenue department.
(Excerpt) Read more at kentucky.com ...
In college my buddies and I rolled our own: Borkum Riff in a Zig Zag.
Cigs are 8.99 in Ct.
What's the difference between a small cigar and a cigarette? "Cigarette" literally means "small cigar".
I gave up smoking decades ago but 'roll your own' to avoid the taxes is a great idea (no filters I assume.) It's so 1920s/Temporance/bootleg like.
And states like Maryland that patrol the borders looking for residents bringing cigarettes in probably are not looking for plain tabacco.
My wife and I switched to the little cigars two years ago. They actually taste better than regular cigarettes, and cost two thirds less.
Funny how the state’s revenue from cigarette taxes dropped when they raised the rate, huh? Libs never learn.
It was now a few years ago that they jacked up the taxes on canned tobacco, which hurt a lot of very poor people.
That “it is for their own good” is a b.s. argument, when taking away the few, small pleasures they have.
I would suggest that anyone who uses this line of argument should be prohibited from eating food in restaurants, because it is less healthy, as a rule, than food prepared at home. And “it is for their own good”, to deprive them of something *they* find pleasing.
Not much. They're supposedly made from cigar tobacco and rolled in brown paper instead of white. My wife and I smoke them, and besides tasting a whole lot better than 'cigarettes', they only cost us $1.70 a pack.
Filters? Taxes?
$1.70 a pack in Texas.
Watch next week for the proposal to tax cigars at gigarette rates.
The government doesn’t care about your health.
They just want your money.
Kentuckians continue to smoke and they are rolling their own — but it sure ain’t tobacco!
I'm not sure how much that it, but it sounds like a bunch!!!
Filters if you want 'em. Some of today's home rolling machines are pretty sophisticated...
Anybody else notice the stoopid attitude in this statement?
Old Mr. Anderson our neighbor used to grow his own tobacco. Dried it in the garage.
{What’s the difference between a small cigar and a cigarette?}
Not much. They’re supposedly made from cigar tobacco and rolled in brown paper instead of white. My wife and I smoke them, and besides tasting a whole lot better than ‘cigarettes’, they only cost us $1.70 a pack.
Years ago (decades really) I read that cigarettes were invented to make use of the trimmings left over from the cigar-making process. The inventor never expected the waste-based product to take off.
I wish I could cite a source for you, but I would have read it on paper so source could have been anything from book to newspaper.
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