NY Plans $1.60 Per Pack Cigarette Tax Increase

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New York - With a state budget gap estimated at over $9 billion and a state government shutdown looming, more revenue for the state may be coming from smokers. 

"I don't think it's really fair to just attack the smokers," West Harrison resident Darlene O'Keeffe said. 

Under a proposed deal reached by Governor David Paterson and Albany legislators, cigarette taxes would increase by $1.60 per pack. In New York City, which already has a high tax on tobacco products, the price of a pack of cigarettes would skyrocket to over $10 in many stores in the city. 

"I've traveled around the whole world – Europe and everywhere – [but] already I spent the most money in this city on cigarettes. So, naturally, it's bad," Manhattan resident Jean Paul de Boissezon said. 

Not only would the cost be felt in consumer's wallets, but by the stores that sell tobacco products as well. 

"Right now, we're paying 46 percent state tax, and they want to bring it up to 90 [percent]," George Vasquez, assistant manager at De La Concha tobacco shop, said. "I think that will put a lot of the retailers out of business, and a lot of people into the unemployment line." 

Some of the non-smokers who spoke to CBS 2 on Saturday felt that an additional tax would provide another benefit, other than added revenue. 

"I think it would be good to deter young kids from doing it," Candice Scharf, of Baldwin, said. "They have limited income, so that way they may not want to spend that extra $1.60." 

"If it becomes too expensive, more people will quit, which would be so much better," Purchase resident Nancy DeRosa said. 

It is unclear whether the proposal has enough support on both sides of the aisle to be approved. That vote is scheduled for Monday in Albany. 

The tentative proposal is part of the emergency budget bill, and if passed, the legislation would generate an estimated $440 million in revenue for the state. 

CBS 2

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