Smoking, it'll kill you (even you, casual smoker). But before that it will bring in beaucoup bucks for the government thanks to hefty taxes—or will it? Pols keep raising and adding taxes on smokes here for the dual purpose of making money and pricing people out of their favorite addiction. Its worked pretty swell for a while now, but it seems that those days are ending. State tax collectors were "recently calling around to convenience-store owners, wondering what was up. The $130 million in extra tax that Albany was expecting from a change in the law about cigarette sales on Indian reservations wasn’t happening."
Basically the state was depending on millions in cash from a law that made it illegal for "licensed cigarette wholesalers in the state to sell untaxed name-brand cigarettes like Newport and Marlboro to Indian reservations." Which should have meant we'd see a bump in cigarette taxes last year. And yet, according to a memo the Post's John Crudele got his hands on, "cigarette tax revenues were flat this past October and November with the year before."
Which theoretically could leave Albany $130 million short on the $130 million they projected the new law would rake in. So good thing New York City is doing its best to keep its paws on as much smoke tax money as possible—most recently by closing down all those roll-your-own smoke shops?
