In a grocery store earlier today I saw a sight that caused my jaw to nearly drop. The store folks were changing out prices in their cigarette case and they were putting up a sign for a carton — Marlboros I believe — priced at $60. That is Sixty Dollars a carton!
Over the past 10 years I have felt better and better about having quit smoking for health reasons as well as when prices go up, and they have steadily risen over time. But Holy Sprio Agnew! I never would have imagined seeing a carton of cigarettes selling for so much.
For those who are either so addicted or so rich they can still smoke, I am sure the reason for some of these increases will really tick you off. The best that I can call them are “pre-emptive tax hikes.”
This story in today’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch explains:
“Just last Saturday, cigarette makers Philip Morris and Lorillard hiked the cost of cigarettes by $10 a carton. On Monday, R. J. Reynolds will follow suit. And that’s before the federal tax hike kicks in next month that’ll tack on an extra $6 or so for each carton.”
The rationale is the anticipated federal tax hikes hit carton sales the most because people buy cartons when the taxes increase. But cigarette manufacturers make less money that way thus the price increase.
All of this makes me wonder if eventually government will tax themselves out of a source of revenue by making cigarettes too expensive for anyone to purchase? Of course, you can still can get a pack of Bugler tobacco with which to roll your own for pretty cheap. I guess once cigarettes are no longer a source of tax revenue then they’ll go after rolling tobacco. Oh well, it’s no longer my worry. Thank goodness.