Spokane7
50°
April 30, 2010 in City
New $1 cigarette tax starts Saturday in Washington
Associated Press
OLYMPIA — The new dollar-a-pack tax on cigarettes tax effect Saturday in Washington.
While lawmakers are hoping to raise more money, the state Health Department says this could prompt more smokers to quit.
The agency says it expects to see a spike in calls to its Tobacco Quit Line 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Couple acquitted of caging 2 boys 
Marksman on April 30 at 8:39 a.m.
I predict a large decline in cig tax revenue in Washington State and a jump in Idaho cig tax collections as more people join the Taxed Enough Already movement, and engage in civil disobedience by driving 20 miles or so. Nobody I know will walk a mile for a Camel, but plenty will drive 20 miles to save 10 bucks a carton!
smarg on April 30 at 8:48 a.m.
Are Canadian smokes cheaper??
MrNatural on April 30 at 9:07 a.m.
Addictions make people do strange things…First it’s really only Spokane and Eastern Washington that has access to Idaho smoke shops so the rest of the state’s smokers have to like it or lump it pretty much. Second when debating to buy a pack or travel 20+ miles the path of least resistance will win out…and after all isn’t that what we are talking about…the path of low resistance…and resistance is futile when you gas up and need a pack..
Finally I don’t know many smokers who want to “stock up” by purchasing multiple cartons or want to travel weekly to “Famous Potato’s” granted they will occasionally take the trip when opportunity arises (like “I need to go to Cabela’s dear”)
All in all I think this will encourage less smoking (and more or less bumming) and rake in a few more bucks for the state.
kaywrightmcg2003 on April 30 at 9:28 a.m.
Citizen ~ Inbreds? Someones needs a nap here and some lessons in spelling. What a hate filled comment.
Coffee on April 30 at 9:41 a.m.
Buy your smokes on line. I found this shop with a quick search and they will send them right to your door.
( http://cigarettes-below-cost.com/cigarette_faqs.html
Will I be charged taxes?We will charge sales tax only if the order is being picked up or shipped to Kentucky. It is the responsibility of the Buyer to ascertain and comply with any laws in regard to the purchase and use of any cigarette products. In order to determine the applicable limits on purchases or taxing responsibilities, if any, imposed by your particular State; the consumer may want to contact their state authorities.) If you live in Spokane start shopping like you grandfathers did go to Idaho once a month and stock up on all of the higher taxed items. Just an Idea or quit smoking :)
spokanada on April 30 at 9:43 a.m.
Americans are lazy. If you found a loophole in the tax (driving to Idaho) then thats great. But please, quit your crying about it.
Or……quit smoking. It is bad for you. Citizen, you like to cry about Obama’s healthcare but as a smoker, you prove that you don’t even care about your own health so why should we listen to you talk about policies that are aimed at keeping other people healthy?
west on April 30 at 10:10 a.m.
I wonder if the Spokane Gestapo will be waiting outside Idaho smokeshops with cameras and night vision ready to pounce on old grandmas’s from WA to buy cigs?
SugarShane on April 30 at 10:13 a.m.
Cigarettes need to be around 50$ a pack and about 300$ for a carton and need to be reclassified as a schedule 1 drug along with alcohol.
(1) Schedule I.—
(A) The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
(B) The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
(C) There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision. - from wiki
Wow tobacco and alcohol fall in this category. Don’t believe me, check the death rates per year on these two items.
kennyhuston on April 30 at 10:23 a.m.
Looks like it’s time to open up a cigarette outlet @ Stateline, ID.!
kennyhuston on April 30 at 10:28 a.m.
Regarding the previous comment, I’ll also sell FULL STRENGTH Cascade Dishwashing Detergent there too!!! ROTFLMAO!!! :-)
spokanada on April 30 at 11:44 a.m.
the same stupid argument can be made for states that want to make abortion illegal.
Well heck, I can go to (any) stateline and get my smokes, detergent and abortion.
empyrius on April 30 at 1:19 p.m.
You got that right Sugar Shane!
Cougardave on April 30 at 1:26 p.m.
First of all, I’m not and never have been a smoker. That being said, this tax is just another step down that slippery slope. First pop and candy, now cigarettes. These “sin” taxes are just another way to control peoples behavior. I want to make my own decisions and I will live with the consequences.
MrNatural on April 30 at 1:31 p.m.
(R)
In pursuit of tobacco addiction
I travel to feed my affliction
An hour or two isn’t far
For nicotine, ashes and tar
My lungs and my liver may wilter
But I need to bite on to that filter
Defiant to taxes I save
But to this habit a slave
A buck! I grumble and blubber
At the cost of gas and rubber
The government won’t foil me yet
In the hunt for a cheap cigarette
Censored on April 30 at 1:44 p.m.
This would appear to be the fastest enacted tax I think I have ever seen!. Just signed into law a week or so ago.. but already being collected. What happend to the 60-90 day information period?
Just going to show they are willing to do anything to seperate people from their money. The more of our money they take the more dependant people will become. The picture has been drawn and people still sit back oblivious to what is really happening. Everytime the Gov. does something illegal and is not challenged it becomes law in a matter of a couple of years and accepted. As a smoker I will continue to smoke, but I will buy my smokes in idaho like many others. That being said.. Free trade amongst states. Try and arrest me for it mr. man. I will go all the way to the top and find out why people going to Disney Land don’t have to pay taxes when entering the state with memorabilia!
masomenos on April 30 at 2:17 p.m.
pardon me as i digress a bit from the focus of the thread, but re: kenny…cascade will no longer be available “full strength” anywhere after this summer-their formulation is going p-free nationwide! it would appear that spokane was ahead of the curve on this one, but it can also be said that phosphorus supplies are running out worldwide so this is an economic response.
misjustice on April 30 at 7:10 p.m.
Smokers = money and health up in smoke, and tar, and carcinogens…maybe the hefty tax will help people quit and live more healthy lives???? Maybe not???? People will always find a way to pay for the things that they want, if they want them badly enough…
PlanB on April 30 at 8:20 p.m.
1. The WSP already has a history of pulling over people who they have seen at the Stateline smokeshops.
2. The constitution gives the Federal Government jurisdiction over interstate commerce.
It would be difficult to believe that the state didn’t perform some statistical analysis on what effect this would have on revenue - and as already mentioned the majority of the state doesn’t have the option to drive a few miles to another state.
lewis8457 on May 01 at 8:00 a.m.
Next year Washington State will still have a deficit and then what? A state income tax and tax on food, is my guess. That is what Idaho has.
If I smoked tobacco I would simply quit, just like I have stopped driving my truck on my days off. I have dropped my gasoline consumption by half.
eagleproducer on May 05 at 10:16 a.m.
Hellooo, Native American reservations? Fighting Creek will love this one!
Did Copenhagen go up a buck a tin too?
How about my loved Cohibas, did Gregoire bite into those too?
thezilla on May 10 at 3:43 p.m.
Where is our rights as citizens to not have taxes levied against us without fair and equal representation? What happen to that magic “surplus” she bragged about having when she lied her butt off again running against Rossi? When is enough tax enough? We all know that the who ever is in the Govs office has never repealed or reduced a tax once it is in place and that is what is happening here, it was just over a year ago Obama hit us with a tax for the kids program that no one knows about or where the money for that is going, then on top of that, the Gov hit us with a dollar tax on top of the Federal Tax.
I did not vote for the mini monster that spends more money in pet projects in King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties than is spent on the rest of this state,
we need to make all these elected officials responsible for the funds they collect, we cannot afford more tax, with no increase in pay, we have Avista asking for a rate increase yet again on top of the one they just got in Jan, gas is heading back to $4.00 per gallon, that rumor says they are going to add a tax to yet again,
Someone needs to stop this huge waste occuring in Olympia, the people elected do not and are not listing to the citizens and doing exactly the opposite,
Next, we will be hit with a income tax, for Gregiore there is never enough and she will tax the people in this state every single way she can, and yet, 40 plus years later that North South freeway still is not done, wha happen to the money we was taxed for this, in four years it would appear they are still putting in over passes,
Enough TAX’S if we have to live in our means so do you, cannot wait until you are no longer our Govener