As of August first, Pennsylvania imposed a new tax on tobacco products. The new tax is $1 added per pack, making the cost go up higher. With this new tax, Pennsylvania is ranked as the 10th highest in the nation at a total of $2.60 per pack. This comes to 13 cents per stick, or $26 per carton (which is 10 packs). Consumers are to pay 6% sales tax with addition to a 1% tax in Allegheny County and 2% tax local tax in Philadelphia County including the $2.60. The total tax in Philadelphia will be $4.60 per pack (including the $2 surcharge to help fund the school district deficit added in 2014), making it the third highest tax for a city after Chicago's $6.16 and New York City's $5.85 per pack. Pennsylvania is the last state to impose taxes on other tobacco products, and a whopping 40% wholesale tax will be applied to electronic cigarettes and nicotine-containing vaping liquid. The new taxes are feeding off those who are addicted, and making smoking more expensive for the average citizen.
This tax is not fair to people that are poor, and smoking could be one of their luxuries. They are already barely getting by, and smoking could help ease stress in their everyday lives. They are going to make cuts on other things because they cannot help their addiction. Aids to quit smoking are just as expensive, and out of reach for some people. Quitting cold turkey is difficult, and most people who quit that way go back to smoking.
The added tax is causing some smokers to go out of state to save money on cigarettes. Poor consumers do not have the advantage to go off to another state if it is not close by if they do not have enough money to buy a large quantity at once. This can cause businesses to lose money, and the closing of local smoking shops could be a possibility. The tobacco industry will not be affected if smokers go across state borders. There will be some loss if people quit, but it is hard enough that quitting will not happen to many. The industry will not be affected in the end.
Usually higher taxes are to lower smoking use, but this is an unfair attempt to do so. This tax feeds off addiction. Governor Tom Wolf signed the tax into motion due to the budget not being passed in time. This is not an appropriate response to that. Taxes should not go up just because nobody would agree on a budget. This is feeding off the taxpayers. We are already taxed highly, and more money is being taken away. Smokers are being targeted in this tax. The tax is supposed to be used for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and to the Agricultural Conversation Easement Purchase Fund. Both are good resources, but the money to fund these should come from something else, not from the smoker's misery.
