With the higher state taxes recently levied on US cigarette pack, people throughout North America are quitting the bad habit of smoking. All the states are witnessing a sharp drop in smokers. A recent USA Today report talked about it’s own survey that it conducted recently.
According to the USA Today survey, a lot of people throughout US are quitting their bad habit due to the leap in taxes charged on smokes. Last year, North Carolina saw 18% drop in smoking after the taxes were increased to 35cents from a nickel.
In the state of Connecticut, cig sales went down to 37%. The prices were hiked to about $1.51 from fifty cents. However, in South Carolina, taxes imposed on the cigarette are very low. So, there’s still a lot of smokers in the state. According to stats, only 5% quit smoking after taxes went up.
Last week, a $35 billion tobacco tax increase was approved by the senate. I think, this is probably a major increase after a while. In the state of California, a ballot proposition suggests raising the tax to $3.47 per pack from 87 cents. Since only 15% of the population in California smoke, the tobacco companies are going on a campaign against the lawmakers.
This is probably the biggest state hike in taxes. Due to this increase in taxes, a lot of American smokers are quitting. I think they might be resorting to using patches or nicotine gums.
Image Credits: Reuters