The average price of a pack of cigarettes is
pushing $7.00, and independent smoke shop owners are seeing less customers
because of it. Smokers buying cigarettes will have to pay up to $2.00 more per
pack. At Tobacconist in Armory Square, a pack that cost $5.00 yesterday, will
cost you over $6.50 today. The owner says that's going to hurt business.
A few blocks away, smokers were hesitant to buy cigarettes at the Downtown
Smoke Shop in Syracuse today. The higher price left business slower than
normal.
Smoke shop owners are afraid of losing customers to Indian Reservations, where
there are no taxes on cigarettes. We spoke to the Onondaga Nation Smoke Shop.
They say they've received more phone calls from customers wanting to know their
price for cigarettes. The store sells pack $2.00 to $3.00 cheaper than in the
city. For small smoke shops, that's hard to compete with.
State officials say the increase should give the state $265 million dollars a
year in additional revenue, on top of the more than one billion it already
brings in.
