On Labor Day, city smokers started paying about 13 cents a pack more for their smokes...

Last summer, Mayor Bloomberg signed a bill that raised the excise tax on cigarettes from 8 cents a pack to $1.50 a pack...

...retailers made it a little easier by subtracting that $1.50 excise tax before computing the sales tax.

Now, because of the law, he must include the excise tax as part of the sales price before adding on the sales tax.

So, in effect, smokers are now paying sales tax on their excise tax. And that translates to an additional 13 cents per pack.

Aides to Bloomberg, who has seen his poll numbers plummet partly because of his workplace smoking ban, said the mayor does not deserve the blame for the latest tax increase.

Story

Sure he deserves the blame. If it wasn't for HIS tax there wouldn't be this 13 cent tax.

Of course the Bloominidiot derserves blame, but so do a lot of other people, and not just in New York.

In any state that has a sales tax (Delaware doesn't) the price of a pack of cigarettes includes the excise tax and the sales tax is calculated on that price. The blame for this double taxation can be equally laid at the feet of all politicos that push for increased cig or sales taxes, all antis who push for increased cig taxes, all non-smokers will to vote for increased cig taxes and all the apathetic smokers that DO NOT stand up and voice their opposition to the increases.

There are around 50 million smokers of voting age in the US, nearly 1/4 of the population. People who don't excersize their right to vote have little room to complain. That may sound harsh, but after all these years involved in politics, I can't see it any other way.

I remember years ago fighting an increase in the alcohol excise tax. I was in a bar and it was the topic of conversation, and there was this one loud mouth railing against several different members of the legislature, as well as the Governor and how they don't belong in office because they don't care about the real people, YADAYADAYADA...........

It was an election year and so I asked him who he was going to support against the Governor and his representative. He looked at me like I was nuts and told me he had never registered to vote, because he couldn't be bothered and that his vote wouldn't count anyway. I was appalled.

People like that are never going to be part of the solution because they are a major part of the problem.

[/end of civic duty rant]

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Smoke gnatzies: small minds buzzing in you business - SWAT'EM