Two new taxes taking effect today are no April Fools’ joke.
The most dramatic of the two tax hikes affects tobacco users who smoke cigars, hookah, use smokeless tobacco and roll their own cigarettes.
Under the new federal tax, the price of non-cigarette tobacco will go up from about $1.10 per pound to $24.62 per pound.
The money from the tax increases will go to federal programs to help children receive better access to healthcare.
“The government should have found something else to tax,” said Mohammad Davani, owner of the Norman Hookah Bar at 177 N. Crawford St.
He said he expects annual operating costs to rise by at least $7,000.
To keep prices down temporarily, Davani said he would charge his current prices until he runs out of stock purchased before the tax increase.
“My customers will be pissed at first, but in the end, they have to realize that I’m not the one responsible,” he said.
Local businesses that do not sell tobacco and tobacco products will also face a slight sales tax hike.
For the first time in Cleveland County history, a countywide tax has been implemented, according to the Cleveland County commissioner’s Web site.
The fourth-of-a-cent sales tax will help pay for the new Cleveland County Jail.
Jerry Hatter, owner of Balfour, a collegiate apparel shop on campus corner, said customers haven’t complained in the past and his sales will probably not be affected.
“We’ve had taxes like these in the past,” he said.
Tobacco Taxes
(prices are per-pound except for cigars)
Roll-your-own tobacco: $1.10 to $24.62
Chewing tobacco: $ 0.20 to $0.50
Pipe tobacco:$1.10 to $2.81
Snuff: $0.59 to $1.50
Large cigars: 20.72% to 52.40% (based on retail price)
Source: Congressional Budget Office
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TAG 3 years, 1 month ago
I like how the government is trying to save lives. Thank you!
jfreezy 3 years, 1 month ago
This is bullcrap. The government has no business placing taxes upon items or products of personal use, especially those that the government has an interest in diminishing. Let them tax coffee, the product with the largest market in the world. It would raise more money while having little to know effect on coffee consumption. I seldom use tobacco products, but as an adult, it is my choice when and where I use it. It is the hope of many that tobacco be banned altogether. Arguments for tobacco's harm aside, it is the principle. Is it just to ban a product which consumers know is harmful? No. Consumers know the risk and choose accordingly. It is their independent choice to cause harm to themselves or not. The consequences are their own. Tobacco is an easy target, but what happens if they start taxing alcohol because they know what's good for you, then maybe red meat because they know what's best. We cannot allow the government to govern behaviors, it will never work and only cause uproar.
Neither I nor anyone else should be burdened by a tax on behavior. This is unjust.
acsooner 3 years, 1 month ago
"Let them tax coffee..."
The government does tax coffee, alcohol, and meat. It's called sales tax. They also tax buying a car, driving a car, selling a car, buying a home, owning a home, selling a home, working, investing, retiring, inheriting, dieing, and among MANY other things, sleeping in a hotel.
There's been a call by the populous for major tax reform for many years now. But little has been done to affect tax status. In light of the current economic situation, don't expect to see any taxes to disappear any time soon and just like the tobacco tax hike, expect more like it in the future.
I, for one, see some taxes as necessary to maintain proper governmental structure. However much needs to be done in attempts to minimize what is being taxed and what those taxes are eventually spent on.
mustafa 3 years, 1 month ago
With payment of such a huge user tax, smokers will begin to believe that they finally deserve some slack. What do you bet they don’t get any?
What should concern us is - how will the anti-smoking nazis react when even this does not stop people from opting to smoke. The demographic of the smoking public may change but its popularity may even rise, especially in comparison to the last few sales-depressed years.
As with other products and logos, as the price goes up, the more fashionable it becomes as a symbol of affluence.
Anti- smoking nazis are hoping these increases will knock out the smoking industry which isn’t likely to happen.
There have long been incidents of militant anti-smokers over-reacting to just the sight of smoking. How will they be able to cope when they realize the battle must go on?
Perhaps this is a good time for a campus-wide smoking ban, for which its enforcement is left up to private individuals?
That would rock!
jfreezy 3 years, 1 month ago
yeah I know about sales tax, but an increased tax of one product is quite different. They're trying, specifically to impact one product through the tax system, and being glib about it is not conducive to proper consideration of the issue. Essentially, tobacco is purchased the most by the lower income groups, thus it is a de facto tax on the poor. Say what you want about smoking, but the government shouldn't be placing a tax on what some view as wrongful behavior. The rationalization of earning revenue is not enough to outweigh principle.