Most cigarettes sold in New York were smuggled out of state to avoid taxes

Pfeiffer, Eric. "Most Cigarettes Sold in New York Were Smuggled out of State to Avoid Taxes." Yahoo! News. Yahoo!, 19 Jan. 0000. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/most-cigarettes-sold-in-new-york-were-smuggled-out-of-state-to-avoid-taxes-201147004.html

If you’re a cigarette smoker in New York, odds are your purchase was illegally smuggled in from another state to avoid paying taxes. A new study by the conservative Tax Foundation claims that 56.9 percent of all cigarettes sold in New York were illegally imported from out of state sources. The foundation’s report says the surge in cigarette smuggling is directly correlated to New York’s tax of $4.35 per pack sold, the highest cigarette tax in the nation. As recently as 2006, New York had only the fifth-highest smuggling rate. But in recent years, the state cigarette tax has jumped 190 percent. Conversely, smuggling rates have jumped by 59 percent during the same period. And despite the study’s numbers, it is difficult to place all of the blame for smuggling rates on taxes. Arizona is less than five percent behind New York in smuggling percentages but the state’s $2.00 per pack tax is tied for 12th highest in the nation. New York is also an international trading hub, arguably giving smugglers more opportunities and potential buyers, for their product. In the U.S., New Hampshire has the lowest inbound smuggling percentage in the nation (24.2 percent) but its $1.78 tax per pack places it near the middle on the scale. Yet New Hampshire also smuggles out the highest percentage of cigarette packs (24.2 percent), according to the Tax Foundation study.