CW wrote:

* Add $1.00 / pack tax on cigarettes.


They're going to continue to do crap like this until a tipping point
is reached. Once it is reached (they aren't far from it now), a new
criminal enterprise will appear: Tobacco smuggling. Not only are they
no longer going to be able to collect tax on it, it is going to be
quite expensive as law enforcement have then got something else to
deal with. I don't smoke myself but when it gets to that point, I
will buy one case of cigarettes a month (maybe more depending on
price) to support the black market.

There's a loophole. The federal definition of "cigarette" is "blah-blah-blah
and contained within a paper sleeve."

I buy faux CIGARS that are not subject to the Draconian cigarette tax.
They're the same size as a cigarette, have a filter, come in Menthol, are
twenty to a pack, taste exactly the same as a cigarette, but are contained
in a TOBACCO sleeve (or at least paper made from tobacco).

They cost $10.90 per carton instead of the $45-$60 cost of the traditional
fags. I get 'em at Sam's (and probably Costco or any Stop-And-Rob bodego).