New York State's Goal: Pay More, Smoke Less - Albany Bureau
by Dan Osburn
Health officials in New York tried to find a bright side to the state's $1.25 increase in the cigarette tax effective yesterday: It may help more people quit smoking.
The increase makes New York's cigarette tax the highest in the nation, pushing the total state tax to $2.75 per pack. The tax will bring the average price per pack to about $7. The higher tax is expected to generate $436 million for the state.
State health officials and health advocates hope the tax increase will dramatically reduce the number of smokers in the state.
"Less smokers means less tobacco-related illness," said Michael Seilback, senior director of public policy for the state chapter of the American Lung Association. "By making smoking expensive and inconvenient, the increase will eventually save the lives of over 77,000 New York youth who will be prevented from becoming smokers."
Some smokers said the higher tax will prompt them to quit. Albany resident Eric Mantey, 33, has been smoking for 15 years. He said yesterday, as he was purchasing his "last pack," that he would try to kick the habit. "I had quit for years and restarted six months ago," he said. "It's too much money for me to justify the habit."
State Health Commissioner Richard Daines called the tax increase a "really important step forward" in particular to stop teenagers from ever picking up the habit.
"Youth are particularly sensitive to tobacco prices," he said. "The ways to avoid taxes aren't available to them. When cigarettes go up by a $1.25 they spend their money on something else."
In 2006, there were 2.8 million adult smokers in the state, or 18.2 percent of the state's over-18 population, said Brian Marchetti of the American Lung Association of New York State. There were 180,000 high school student smokers in 2006, or 16.3 percent of the state's high school students.
Daines said he expects about 30 percent of New York smokers will take measures to avoid paying the tax, such as buying in other states where cigarettes are less taxed. James Calvin, president of the state Convenience Store Association, said the projected revenue from the tax increase is "pure fiction."
He said most smokers would dodge the tax by going to a neighboring state, buying on tax-free American Indian reservations or buying over the Internet.
"This is a public health disaster," Calvin said. "Please tell me, Dr. Daines, how it's a public health victory if 30 percent of smokers, rather than quitting smoking, shift their purchases to the tax-free side of the street and continue smoking?" Not only will convenience store owners lose 15 percent to 40 percent of their cigarette revenue, they will lose money on everything from snacks to milk to any other product smokers buy when they go to convenience stores, Calvin said.
The cigarette tax is lower in every state bordering New York. Pennsylvania has a tax of $1.35 per pack; Vermont charges $1.79; Massachusetts charges $1.51; Connecticut charges $2; and New Jersey charges $2.57.
Just down the hill from the state Capitol, where the tax-increase legislation was enacted, Smoker's Choice tobacco outlet customers were paying the increased price yesterday and complaining.
"I think it's crazy, it's absurd," said Greg Peterson, 27, of Latham, Albany County, a smoker for 15 years. "Officially today we are the highest-priced state." Shawn Cobbins, 37-year-old Albany employee of the Crowne Plaza Hotel and a smoker for 10 years, said, "It's either gas your car up or stop smoking cigarettes." Jim Welch, owner of Jim's Place convenience store in Albany, said, "When things like this happen sales go to the corporate-owned tobacco stores and leave the mom-and-pop stores high and dry."
Smoker's Choice was advertising bags of loose tobacco to be hand-rolled into cigarettes, which is a cheaper alternative to buying packaged cigarettes affected by the tax. Tom Bergin, spokesman for the state Tax Department, said consumers are not additionally taxed for the purchase of loose tobacco, but wholesalers are. So, Bergin said, wholesalers are likely to pass the additional cost onto consumers.
Daniel Miles, an employee of Smoker's Choice, said a pound bag of tobacco could net 500 to 600 cigarettes and costs about $20.
State Health Department spokeswoman Claire Pospicil said hand-rolling probably won't appeal to most smokers and shouldn't undermine the quitting the department hopes will be spurred by the tax increase.
