Cheap cigarettes here
Michigan's tobacco tax jumps 75 cents to $2 on Thursday to become the
nation's second-highest only behind New Jersey's $2.05-a-pack tax.
"I'm very concerned," said the 28-year-old, who took over
the Smokers Oasis earlier this month. "I'm hoping this doesn't
put me and my kids on the street."
Michigan retailers near the Ohio, Wisconsin and Indiana state lines
are especially worried about the
cheap cigarettes online higher tax because cigarettes,
chewing tobacco and other tobacco products are a lot cheaper just down
the road. The tax on a pack of cigarettes is 77 cents in Wisconsin,
55.5 cents in Indiana and 55 cents in Ohio. You won't believe
cheap cigarettes online the number of people who have stood at my counter
and said, 'Well, I'll have to start driving to Ohio or just order off
the Internet,' " said Cecil Johnson, owner of CJ's Smoke Shop,
located between Ypsilanti and Milan about 40 minutes from the Ohio line.
Charles Banas, a first-year student at Cooley Law School in Lansing,
said he's not worried about Michigan's higher cigarette tax because
his family in Pennsylvania mails him cartons of his favorite cigarettes,
Jacks.
"I ship them in," the 22-year-old said this week as he sat
at a downtown Lansing bar. "My price limit would be $5 if I had
to get them from here. If it got to be more than that, I would quit."
Gov. Jennifer Granholm originally proposed the 75-cent increase to encourage
people to stop smoking
cheap cigarettes online and help fill a gap in the
Medicaid budget left by fewer federal dollars. The Democratic governor
originally proposed the increase for the fiscal year that begins Oct.
1, but suggested moving it up to July 1 to help resolve a $250 million
deficit in this year's budget.
The higher tax is expected to bring in $97.1 million for the current
fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The Granholm administration estimates
it will bring in about $313 million in additional revenue in the upcoming
budget year.
The new tax will push the cost of a pack of Marlboro cigarettes - now
at about $4.33 - over $5. The tax on a carton of cigarettes, which includes
10 packs, will go from $12.50 to $20 on Thursday. A carton now costs
about $45.
On top of the state tax cheap cigarettes online on
tobacco products, there also is a 39-cent federal tax and 20-cent state
sales tax tacked on to a pack of cigarettes.
Mike James, a 20-year-old telecommunications student at Michigan State
University, said he might have to smoke less than the two or three packs
he now smokes a week when the higher tax takes effect.
"There's no way I can afford it," said the Jackson native,
sitting outside a coffee shop in East Lansing. "If it comes down
to paying rent and smoking, I won't buy cigarettes."If
smokers buy fewer cigarettes, stores won't need as much of the product
and that could hurt local distributing companies.
W.J. Burgess, vice president and general manager of cigarette distributor
Hartland Distributing, said he expects the higher tax will mean a hit
of at least 15 percent to his business. The last time the state increased
the cigarette tax, from 75 cents to $1.25 in August 2002, Burgess said
the company lost so much business it had to close its Monroe facility.
Michigan was one of 21 states to raise its tobacco tax two years ago,
according to Arturo Perez, a fiscal analyst for the National Council
of State Legislatures. Last year, just 15 states increased their tobacco
tax and fewer are expected to do so this year, he said.
"There's still some states raising cigarette taxes, but all and
all we're probably seeing less ... because of the degree to which they
have raised their taxes," Perez said.Some Republican lawmakers
had opposed the 75-cent tobacco tax increase, but the House
cheap cigarettes online and Senate gave it final approval last
week when Granholm appeared increasingly open to signing GOP-backed
bills aimed at improving the economy similar to those she vetoed last
month.A number of House Republicans sharply criticized the higher tax,
suggesting it would increase smuggling and counterfeit cigarettes. They
attempted to set aside 1 percent of the new cigarette tax revenue for
more law enforcement, but the provision wasn't in the final version
of the bill.Even without additional funding, the Michigan State Police
already are beginning to train their troopers and other local law enforcement
officers along the state line to look for counterfeit and smuggled cigarettes,
department spokeswoman Shanon Akans said.