Starting July 1, people who buy cigarettes in New York will have to fork over an extra $1.60 per cigarette pack in state taxes according to a new law passed yesterday by the Legislature. This will bring the total cost of cigarettes to approximately $12.00 a pack.
“Touted as a public health initiative to deter people from smoking with a side benefit of generating revenue, the law should be more accurately described as an attempt to bridge the looming state budget deficit — a financial ploy with questionable positive health effects,” says ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. “These higher taxes will only lead to people crossing state boundaries or resorting to the Internet to purchase their cigarettes.”
Dr. Whelan further cites Clyde Haberman’s insightful column in The New York Times to reiterate that the bill has little or nothing to do with people’s health — the focus is always on the money:
