Jul 1, 2009 8:00 am US/Eastern
Florida Smokers Hit With New Tax Per Pack
FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
Smokers are going to have to dig a little deeper into their wallets.
The state's new cigarette tax kicked in Wednesday which increases Florida's cigarette tax from .34 cents a pack to a $1.34 a pack. State legislators passed the law during the recent legislative session.
Henry Robles, who was buying a couple of extra packs Tuesday night at a Shell gas station on Sunrise Boulevard in Ft. Lauderdale, said he planed to keeping up his two-pack-per-day habit knowing that the new tax was going to burn a hole in his pocket.
"I really don't want to think about it but I think it's gonna be a lot (of money)," Robles told CBS 4's Carey Codd.
The clerk at the gas station said cigarette sales were brisk Tuesday, as smokers stocked up in advance of the new tax.
Some smokers, like Dorothy Stevens, believe the state is picking on them even as they try to make ends meet in a struggling economy.
When asked if the new tax would force her to cut back, Stevens replied, "I'm not sure. I'm on a fixed income so it maybe it will have to."
While Florida had among the nation's lowest cigarette tax, the stat raised its tax through what is called a "surcharge" in the Protecting Florida's Health Act. The law also increased a 25 percent tax on the wholesale price of other tobacco products except for cigars, which are exempt, to 60 percent.
State legislators are hoping the Sunshine State's higher tobacco taxes will be the extra push smokers need to break their often lethal habit and to deter young people from taking it up. The tax hike will in turn, raise more than $900 million a year for health care.
The higher tobacco tax is one of several new revenue sources necessary for paying the $66.5 billion in spending during the budget year beginning Wednesday.
For Florida smokers this is a double whammy, however. This is the second time in three months Florida smokers have been hit with higher cigarette taxes. In April, the federal government raised taxes on cigarettes by 62 cents a pack.
Several smokers CBS4 spoke with acknowledged that smoking is a bad for them and dangerous to their health.
"Hopefully it slows me down," said 10-year smoker Richie Coad. "With the way money's going with the economy and everything it's gonna make a lot of impact on a lot of different people. A lot of people are going to be able to afford them and they're gonna have to quit."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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