There has long been an ironic relationship between states and tobacco. While insisting that they are raising taxes on tobacco to combat smoking, states have long been addicted to the revenue. Now, some states are lowering taxes to encourage more smoking to generate more revenue to deal with budget shortfalls.
New Hampshire is the latest such state. Facing lower taxes in Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts, the legislators want to get in on the profits from smoking. A bill would cut the rate 10 cents to $1.68 per pack.
Source: Yahoo
Blouise,
Cats are bad, especially if they are marking their territory.
pete,
Cats are worse … from a landlord’s point of view … new carpeting is always required.
culheath
1, March 21, 2011 at 1:22 pm
eniobob: “Some buildings don’t want you to smoke in your own apartment.”
Precisely the irrational evangelism I spoke to in another post
===============================================================
if you’d ever painted a room, only to have the tar and nicotine bleed through the new paint, you’d understand why a landlord may not want smoking anywhere in their building.
and yes, i know what deposits are for. i also know people will lie about their habit if they think it will raise their deposit.
anon: you’ve used 1/8 ounce prices but 1 ounce weights
an average size bowl is .2-.3 grams. 1/8 oz = 3.5 grams = 12 to 18 bowls = 1.7 to 2.6 bowls per day
the same $39 would buy you 2.7 grams of pot per week, based on $50 per 1/8 oz bag, then that same amount of funds would provide about 1.1 large bowls (.3 gram) of pot per day.
Elaine M. 1, March 21, 2011 at 1:00 pm
——————–
Elaine, are you born in Massachusettes? ‘Cause I remember the virgin trip to N.H. on a Sunday to buy beer as a rite of passage….one that led to many delightful excursions across the border to L.L. Bean and the White Mtns….&*^#%@^%(%@ the gas!
cullhealth:
There is a dollar figure:
New York has extended its ban on smoking to include parks and beaches, giving it some of the strictest rules on lighting up in the world.
Residents and tourists alike face fines up fines up to $100 (£62) if they smoke in any of the city’s 1,700 parks – including Central Park – and along its 14 miles of coastline.
The ban also covers public plazas such as Times Square.
Such rules are unheard of in America and are amongst the toughest in the world, although many countries including the UK have bans on smoking in indoor public places.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1353091/New-York-smoking-ban-spreads-Central-Park-public-places.html#ixzz1HGTGdcKH
eniobob: “Some buildings don’t want you to smoke in your own apartment.”
Precisely the irrational evangelism I spoke to in another post.
Elaine,
Thanks for the article and link … I fully appreciate the manner in which you gently guide the learning process.
Puzzling,
Evidently you missed my point for posting that story. The Think Progress piece isn’t just about lowering taxes to raise revenue for the state of NH.
**********
I live in Massachusetts. Some people in my state who live close to NH may shop there for cigarettes and alcohol. It isn’t worth it to folks like me. I can’t see driving extra miles and burning gasoline in order to buy cheaper gasoline…or wine, etc. That doesn’t make much sense to me. I’d be wasting time…and possibly not saving much–if any–money.
puzzling,
With the price of gas I think you may see very little increase in the numbers. There are probably more going North to Canada for prescription medicine!
If you like to smoke don’t move to Manhattan:
New Smoking Ban Proposal Targets Condos, Co-Ops
Some buildings don’t want you to smoke in your own apartment.
By JENNIFER MILLMAN
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/New-Smoking-Ban-Proposal-Targets-Condos-Co-Ops-118073219.html
Elaine,
The article headline misses the point. Even though the tax rate was cut, New Hampshire will see increased overall tax revenue due to people crossing the border to buy cigarettes. Thousands of people cross into NH every day to avoid sales tax, buy cheap liquor, fill up with cheaper gasoline and will now buy cheaper cigarettes too.
From Think Progress (3/18/20110
New Hampshire House Approves Tax Cut On Cancer-Causing Cigarettes, Cuts Health And Education Funding
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/03/18/nh-cigarette-cut/
Excerpt:
In a flurry of legislative activity this week, the New Hampshire House approved a tax cut on cigarettes even while cutting funding for education, and health care. The ten cent tax cut bucks a national trend of raising taxes on tobacco since “forever” and, according to multiple studies, could lead to a 6.6 percent increase in respiratory cancer deaths.
Republican lawmakers claim that the tax cut, which the New Hampshire chapter of the Koch-funded front group Americans for Prosperity strongly pushed for, will attract out-of-state smokers and raise revenue in the “long run.” Yet a spokesman for Gov. John Lynch (D) notes that the state already has the second-lowest tax burden in the nation. And with rising gas prices, the odds of smokers driving to New Hampshire for their cigarettes are slim.
Instead lawmakers have chosen to weaken an extremely effective policy tool: cigarette taxes not only reduce smoking but help limit underage smoking, exposure to second-hand smoke, and related health care costs. The tax cut is just one part of a legislative agenda that New Hampshire Republicans pushed through this week that cuts programs that keep Main Street healthy and strong:
-Yesterday, The House’s powerful Finance Committee moved forward on legislation that would cause mass layoffs of physicians and nurses and result in more than 12,000 people, including 500 to 800 children, losing their health care coverage.
-Wednesday, the House approved a bill freezing funding for schools.
-Tuesday, lawmakers approved a bill that “removes compulsory school attendance for children.”
-The Republican-controlled Senate approved pension-reform legislation that increases health care costs and raises the retirement age for public workers.
-House members passed an amendment to the state Constitution “to bypass a Supreme Court decision ordering the state to pay for the cost of an adequate education for every public schoolchild.”
**********
I hear some people in New Hampshire are thinking of changing the state motto, Live Free or Die, to one of the following:
Live Free and Die Coughing
Live Free and Die of Lung Cancer
That’s my poor attempt at sick humor.
“… some states are lowering taxes to encourage more smoking to generate more revenue to deal with budget shortfalls.”
——————————————-
definition for parasite;
(păr’ə-sīt’) pronunciation
n.
an animal or plant that lives in or on a host (another animal or plant); it obtains nourishment from the host without benefiting or by killing the host
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
One expensive habit!! Stay out of New Hampshire if you are hooked.
So if it is true that across the country the average cost of a pack of cigarettes is $5.51, then it costs $39 per week for a pack a day habit, not including gas, medical costs, etc. But an eighth oz of illegal pot is only $40-50 and lasts an every day, multiple times per day smoker a week — an average size bowl is .2-.3 grams. 1 oz = 28 grams = 93 to 140 bowls = 13 to 20 bowls per day.
In other words, if smoking a pack per day of cigarettes is $39 per week, and the same $39 would buy you 22 grams of pot per week, based on $50 per 1/8 oz bag, then that same amount of funds would provide about 10 large bowls (.3 gram) of pot per day.
So is the idea that there will be no taxes on “medical marijuana”?
The so called “Sin Tax” reached its maximum benefit….If I recall that was supposed to reduce the amount of people smoking…but heck all other revenue was up…
Puzzling:
excellent point. But this has broader implications in the macro-economy. Namely that lower taxes are the correct way to “stimulate” an economy. Government spending does not, as we have seen with the recent stimulus which has only lead to inflationary pressure on the economy. This was/is predicted by free market/libertarian/Austrian economic theory.
Government loves to profit from “sin taxes”, there is no doubt.
New Hampshire isn’t trying to encourage smoking with this policy. The state is smart enough to realize that cutting the tax rate on cigarettes will actually increase the tax revenue it collects by increasing the number of consumers willing to go to New Hampshire for cigarettes instead of their home state. In other words, it wins cigarette tax revenue from surrounding states.
NH also draws shoppers and business through low liquor pricing and 0% sales tax, which is why retail centers dot its state borders, particularly with Massachusetts. New Hampshire also has no state personal income tax.