And So It Goes: The Cycle of Tobacco Tax Policy

Jeffrey A. Singer

Last September, I wrote about how New York City residents face the highest combined state and local excise taxes on cigarettes in the country, pushing the average price of a pack to roughly $14.55. This high tax burden is fueling a vigorous black market, as a recent Rutgers University study of littered cigarette packages confirmed: only 16.6 percent of littered packages had New York City tax stamps.

If lawmakers in New York and other states want to see where this will lead...