Jesse Hathaway over at Athens Runaway has a fantastic new post on a possible 1$ hike in the sin tax on cigarettes in Ohio.
The money paragraphs:
Other states’ attempts to fill budgetary holes by soaking the poor aren’t encouraging, either. In New Jersey, the state actually lost $15 million by increasing the sin tax by 12.5 cents. In Maryland, another liberal state that did this, analysts saw a marked increase in black-market cigarette sales, which meant that retailers and small businesses took a big financial hit.
In short, smoking sucks. Don’t start it—and if you’re already a smoker, stop it. You’ll save money in the short-, medium-, and long-run. However, it’s not the government’s job to tell us what behaviors are good and which are bad.
