One of the joys of living in WA State
If you are a smoker that is.
From Seattle station
KOMO:
Smokers: Latest tax hike is 'the last straw'
The recession and the biggest federal cigarette tax increase in history - a 62-cents-a-pack hike April 1 - have sent Washington smokers scrambling for ways to quit.
Analysts expect the higher prices to drive cigarette consumption down by about 6.25 percent, leading to an estimated $20.9 million loss in state tax revenue and tobacco settlement money.
The price hike already has caused a boom in the stop-smoking business, and for families of smokers struggling to quit, has increased tension already stretched by the economic slump.
The federal cigarette tax rose to $1.01 a pack April 1, but many manufacturers raised prices in March in response to an expected loss in sales. A pack of premium cigarettes in Washington now costs at least $7, which adds up to more than $2,500 a year for pack-a-day smokers.
In addition to paying the federal tax, Washington's 800,000 smokers face state taxes of $2.025 a pack, the fifth-highest rate in the country after New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Yvonne Russell is one of the smokers driven to quit by the federal tax hike.
"As soon as I found out prices were increasing again, I said, 'No more,' " fumed Russell, 35, a smoker since she was 18. "It's just getting ridiculous."
Sure, Obama is cutting the Income Taxes for the demographic that does not pay a lot of Income Tax but he's comin' after your money in many other smaller ways. The IRS cut is awesome publicity but when everything pencils out, it's a lame publicity stunt.
The people who are productive in society are going to get nailed. Where is the incentive to be productive (or for at least the next three years and 260 days)...
Posted by DaveH at May 3, 2009 8:44 PM