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Last Updated: Jan 31st, 2007 - 10:58:43 |
Cigarette habit getting costly
Dec 20, 2006, 12:31
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Sandra Yarbrough bought her last three cartons of cigarettes Tuesday afternoon. It’s going to cost Yarbrough as much as an extra $10 per carton once the cigarette tax increase hits on Jan. 1, 2007. Yarbrough, who smokes a pack a day and spends nearly $100 a month on cigarettes, said it is just getting much too expensive to keep feeding her habit anymore. “You’re talking $45 for one carton of cigarettes,” said Yarbrough, 51. “It really is enough to make you quit. But I’m going to go to my doctor and get some medicine and try to quit.” Yarbrough said her mother, who supports herself almost exclusively through Social Security, is likely to quit as well once the tax increase hits. And they won’t be going about it alone, either. Several residents admitted they will attempt to quit as well because it is simply getting too expensive. “I’m about to give it up and quit. I sure am,” said Clifford Owens, 49. The excise tax rate is set to be 40 percent of the manufacturer’s list price, exclusive of any trade discount, special discount or deal and applies to all smoke and chewing tobacco and snuff products — excluding cigars — distributors receive on and after Jan. 1, 2007. Paula Hardilek, an employee at Tobacco Barn, said sales have spiked dramatically since the announcement of the tax increase. “People have been buying cartons a lot more recently,” Hardilek said. “Usually they’ll just buy a pack but today I’ve already sold 20 cartons. “People are stocking up. One guy even wanted to buy an entire case of cartons, which is 30 cartons.” While several people like Yarbrough and Owens said they aim to quit because of the price, Hardilek said she’s heard that story several times before. “People have said they were going to quit whenever cigarettes went over two dollars (a pack) but now their buying them at $3.50,” she said. Hardilek said she expects sales to dip but not for very long. “I think people will probably quit for about a month or so but I don’t think they are going to be able to quit,” Hardilek said. “They might just back down and smoke slower.” James Broadway, 36, doesn’t agree with the tax increase. He says cigarettes receive a tax increase far more frequently than any other product on the market, but aims to do as Hardilek predicted and simply cut back. “I imagine it’s going to have an impact,” he said. “I think I’m going to just start limiting where I smoke and how much I smoke.”
© Copyright 2006 by CigarettesOn.Com
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