Massachusetts Governor proposes increased tobacco taxes

Utah is not the only state where smokers are in fear of higher taxes. A little over a month ago Deval Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts, announced that proposal to increase taxes on cigars from the current rate of 30 percent to the exorbitant level of 110 percent. The proposed tax increase is an effort to offset a three percent increase in the state’s overall budget from 2010. Undoubtedly, this significant increase has many smokers fuming.

Once again, at the smokers’ defense is the non-profit organization known as the IPCPR. Chris McCalla, legislative director of the group, claims that the tax hikes would actually have the opposite of their intended effect for increased revenue for the state. He claims that smokers could avoid the tax hikes by travelling out of state to purchase tobacco products. They could also resort to buying bootlegged products, or simply go on the internet to make their purchases. These tactics would obviously hurt tobacco stores in Massachusetts by lowering their sales, forcing them to cut jobs, and possibly even shut down. In the end, other states and avenues would gain customers lost by the state of Massachusetts.

McCalla and the IPCPR feel that the tobacco industry should not have to bear the burden of tax increases to help balance out the state’s overall budget changes. Furthermore, the tax increases are not only unfair, as they put the clamps down on the tobacco industry, but will most likely not even produce their intended results, making it a lose-lose situation for smokers and Massachusetts as a whole.

I hope my reports on the nationwide changes in smoking legislation were informative. Keep checking back for more news that I will relay to you as it occurs.