With new tax, state is leader of the pack

Tag : Carton Pack

After eight years of smoking, Vivian Diaz enjoyed what may be herlast cigarettes Monday. As the Buffalo woman bought cigarettesafter pumping gas, the clerk told her the price of a pack wouldincrease to more than $6 today — thanks to higher statetaxes.
“I’ll quit,” Diaz half-jokingly told the clerk.
But when Diaz told her husband about the price hike, he asked herto quit.
She’s going to try. New York State’s excise tax oncigarettes becomes the highest in the nation today, when itincreases by $1.25 a pack — to $2.75.
The increase means smokers in Buffalo will pay, on average, morethan $6 a pack — or some $60 a carton.
Advocates of higher tobacco taxes say the tax hike will reduce thenumber of smokers and, as a result, the medical costs associatedwith smoking.
Studies indicate that for every 10 percent increase in the price ofcigarettes, there is a 7 percent drop in youth smoking rates and a4 percent decline in adult smoking rates.
“Like many goods, if you raise the price, you reduceconsumption,” said K. Michael Cummings, chairman of thedepartment of health behavior at Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
Nevertheless, the policy has its opponents.
“This is about government trying to modify behavior withtaxes instead of making smoking a matter of individualchoice,” said Audrey Silk, founder of the New York CitybasedCitizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment.
What’s more, tobacco companies argue that cigarettes are oneof the most heavily taxed consumer products in the country andtaxed unfairly higher than beer and wine. Anti-tax groups,including the National Taxpayers Union, contend higher cigarettetaxes end up encouraging governments to spend more.
Some smokers, meanwhile, say it will take more than an extra $1.25a pack to persuade them to quit smoking.
Brendan Moody, a 21-year-old junior at Canisius College, said hehates to pay the extra money but he will.
“It’s a good idea that they actually care to makepeople quit, but it’s inconvenient,” Moody said of thehigher cost. “I hope one day I’m going to quit.”
Meanwhile, Moody said, he’s considering buying his cigaretteson the Seneca Indian Nation, where sales are exempt from statetaxes.
Justin Beaver, 35, who works at a downtown jewelry store, also isconsidering buying cigarettes on Native American land.
“I think I’m actually going to charge a month’sworth of cigarettes at the reservation and pay it off everymonth,” Beaver said. “It’s going to getexpensive.
“I don’t think the price is going to make anybody cutdown,” he added. “People are addicted to smoking, andthey’re gonna find any way they can to get theircigarettes.”
A 10-pack carton of Marlboro Reds, Moody’s preferred brand,costs $33.84, according to the Seneca Smokeshop Web site. Newport100s, Diaz’s choice, cost $33.49 per carton.
A customer service representative for Seneca Smokeshop said priceswould be the same today as they were Monday. In comparison, storesoff the reservation reported that starting today they will chargetwice that — about $60 a carton.
Until today, New Jersey had the highest excise tax on cigarettes— $2.58. South Carolina has the lowest at 7 cents. Thenational average is $1.14 per pack.
In addition to state laws, the federal cigarette tax is 39 centsper pack, making the average price of a pack nationwide well over$4.
Cummings and others maintain that the tax would have to be evenhigher to make up for the costs of treating the diseases linked tosmoking, such as lung cancer and emphysema.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates thatsmoking-caused health costs total $10.28 per pack.
“That cost is reflected in our health insuranceprices,” said Cummings.
Smoking kills an estimated 25,500 people every year in New YorkState, which has a goal of reducing the number of smokers by 1million by 2010.
“I’ve never had any problems — yet — [but]I’m sure I’ll have problems,” said Beaver, whohas been smoking for 20 years. “Everyone who smokes knows howbad it is, but they do it anyway.”
nmorera@buffnews.com , hdavis@buffnews.com