You Pay HOW MUCH for Your Habit?

This week, New York state raised their cigarette tax to the highest in the nation.

They basically tacked an additional $1.25 per pack onto the price.

New York City added an additional tax as well, so cigarettes in NYC will cost an extra $1.50 compared to yesterday.

I'm speechless. Some New Yorkers will be paying more than $10 per pack!!!

There are still smokers in New York? How do they afford it?

Let's say they smoke a pack-per-day -- that seems to be an average. We'll use round numbers to keep it easy. So $10 per pack --> $280-310 per month --> $3360-3720 per year!

Hm...let's see what else costs ~$3500 per year:

A year of in-state tuition at Fayetteville State University: $3245/year

(Appalachian State University ~$2200/year, NCSU ~$5000 year)

Hey wait, we're talking about New Yorkers:

A year of in-state tuition at City College of New York: $4000/year!

How about a used truck?

A 6-piece leather living room suite?

LASIK Eye Surgery?

This guy paid $3500 to have the exterior of his house painted. (We paid less than that, by the way, this guy was taken for a ride).

How about New Yorkers who also drive...look what they're paying for regular gas!



My father-in-law is a smoking New Yorker who drives a small SUV. The gas prices and cigarettes alone probably suck an extra $200 per month out of his budget than even 3 years ago.

In conclusion, if a New York smoker were to put aside that $10 per day for his/her pack of cigarettes look at what he/she could purchase or achieve!!!!

Many of you know that I've run a similar numbers game with driving our Prius vs. our Odyssey. I just looked at that blog post and saw how gas was $3.29 per gallon on March 11th. Prices are now 20% higher so you can tack 20% onto all the numbers I'd run there.

Sincerely,

Patricia-Your-Friendly-Neighborhood-Math-Geek

PS: Wanna see how much YOUR state taxes cigarettes? Looks like South Carolina's the place to go. For gas, too.

PPS: Hey South Carolina -- if you aren't taxing gasoline or cigarettes, how ARE you getting your money???