High Tobacco Taxes Spark Huge Black Market in Northeast

Breitbart ^ | 6 Jan 2014 | Mike Flynn

[Hoodat]

High-cigarette tax jurisdictions are losing out on up to $729 million in tax revenue each year due to illicit trade in tobacco products.

That is according to a new study from the nonprofit research organization RTI International. The figure represents an upper-end estimate of aggregate revenue foregone by the cities of Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Providence and Washington, DC. All five are top destinations for cigarette smugglers seeking to take advantage of high cigarette tax rates that push economy-minded buyers, including underage smokers seeking to avoid high, legal prices, to the black market.

In New York, which boasts the highest cigarette tax in the nation, the market in illicit cigarettes is vast.

According to a 2013 study by the Tax Foundation, about 60 percent of cigarettes sold in New York are smuggled.

A previous 2011 study conducted by the lead researcher in the RTI study indicated that in New York City, specifically, up to 42 percent of cigarettes were smuggled into the city from lower tax jurisdictions.

Most cigarettes sold on the black market in New York appear to originate from lower-tax Virginia.

Late last year, New York City established by law a minimum price of $10.50 per pack, which some observers believe could further fuel the illicit trade problem. At the time of the study the average price per pack in New York City was about $8.

While some policy experts . . .

[Hoodat]

Now you see why I am opposed to a national sales tax. Instead of the IRS, we will have the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Everything Else Sold Under the Sun.

[JRandomFreeper]

Then I shall be an outlaw. I won't live on my knees.

/johnny

[MileHi]

How much water do they need?

[Personal Responsibility]

“...tax jurisdictions are losing out on up to $729 million in tax revenue...”

I love the phrasing. “Losing out on tax revenue”. It wasn’t theirs to lose.

[JRandomFreeper]

Like anything else in the garden. If you can grow tomatoes, you can grow tobacco.

/johnny

[JRandomFreeper]

The government thinks everything is theirs, that's why they consider it losing $729 M.

/johnny

[MileHi]

I need to try this.

[Mears]

MA people go to N.H. (or have someone pick them up).

The difference is about $20.00 a carton.

For a pack a day smoker that’s about $700.00 a year.

,

[ZX12R]

In New York, which boasts the highest cigarette tax in the nation, the market in illicit cigarettes is vast.

Good! I support the criminals on this one. May they be vastly successful and profitable. All governments, local, state and federal, have lost most of their legitimacy in telling Americans how they will behave, what they can own, and what they will pay for goods. It seems to me that governments and law enforcement today, are no longer treating the citizens with the deserved respect that a law abiding citizen has earned, and consequently requires of its government.

The federal government especially, has forfeited its legitimate purposes and can go to hell. The growing number of people that feel this way, will no longer blindly follow the laws passed by that cesspool administration in D.C. and its lackey criminal enterprise called democrats in congress.

Lying to, cheating, and stealing from, the federal government is now the order of the day.

[sportutegrl]

I have seen what looks to me like tobacco plants in Amish home gardens in Lancaster, PA.

[Hoodat]

Good! I support the criminals on this one.

The only criminals here are the politicians who not only allow the sale of a dangerous and highly addictive product, but they reap the greatest profit from its sale - several times that of the companies who actually make it.

The government bleeds the smoker dry all the while hoping that the smoker dies on his/her 65th birthday.

[JRandomFreeper]

It can be grown almost anywhere.

/johnny

[Beagle8U]

I crunched the numbers once a few years ago and figured that a MI tobacco smuggler could drive to a N Kentucky Indian Rez once a week in a small car and make over $1200 a week after expenses. Round trip in less than 8 hrs.

And that was still selling them for half the going price.

I’ll bet someone in NY could make $5,000 a week today.

[nascarnation]

Back in the 60s I worked at an auto plant in NE Ohio. There were always guys selling trunkfulls of low tax Ky cigs, and the savings was probably 5 cents a pack, LOL.

[Vigilanteman]

Yes it can. I’ve seen fields of it in southern Pennsylvania. It is just that the soil and climate conditions between Virginia and South Carolina (extending into eastern Kentucky and Tennessee) are particularly well suited for the most efficient growth.

[ZX12R]

The only criminals here are the politicians who not only allow the sale of a dangerous and highly addictive product

The fact that you or the government has an opinion about smoking, should have no bearing on the price or availability of tobacco. You should learn to mind your own business and let the market decide.

Or just move to Cuba or Russia where you'd fit right in among your own kind.

[JRandomFreeper]

I do ok with it here in Texas.

/johnny

[Noumenon]

Visit your local Indian reservation. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink - you know what I mean?

[libertarian27]

http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/16/news/economy/cigarette-smuggling/
The lucrative business of cigarette smuggling
Wanna make a quick $1,944,000? Buy a truckload of cigarettes in Virginia and sell them in New York.

:)

[Graybeard58]

"Black market cigs": Having a buddy/relative living in Virginia, who brings a few cases of cigs every time he visits.

After 50 years of smoking, I quit over 5 years ago.

I live in central Illinois, My mother,whom I visit as often as I can, lives in southern Missouri. Every time I visited her, I stoced up on lower tax Missouri cigarettes, saving about $20 per carton. The money I saved more than paid my expenses for the 650 mile round trip.

On an early occasion of doing this, I had a clerk warn me about paying with a Visa debit card. He told me that Visa and other major cards were reporting such purchases to other state's government. From then on I paid in cash.