Trips to the corner store for cigarettes going up
By ADAM STEWART Staff Reporter
Another dollar bill has been rolled into the tax on a pack of cigarettes down at the corner store.
Starting this month, smokers can expect to pay a state tax of $3.025 per pack.
Statewide, the average price of a pack of smokes is now more than $7.
Tax on other tobacco products, such as cigars, increased from 75- to 95-percent of the sales price, capped at 65 cents per cigar.
Little cigars or “cigarillos” are taxed at the same rate as cigarettes.
Chewing tobacco continues to be taxed at 75 percent until October when the rate increases to the greater of $2.526 or 83.5 percent of the cigarette tax on each tin.
The tax increases are expected to bring in more than $100 million over the next 14 months, helping to alleviate a portion of the state’s $2.8 billion budget deficit.
Down the aisle, popular items such as bottled water, candy and gum will be subject to retail sales tax, effective June 1.
The tax includes sales of bottled water that is delivered to the buyer in a reusable container.
Large-scale producers of beer will face higher taxes per gallon of production, which could lead to higher prices for consumers. State micro-breweries are spared from the additional expense.
A temporary tax of two cents per 12 ounces on bottled carbonated beverages will also be imposed on the seller until June of 2013.
Washington’s Department of Revenue reported that overall taxable retail sales declined 11.2 percent to $100.5 billion last year. However, food and beverage stores reported an 8.2 percent gain statewide.
From 2008 to 2009, Stanwood’s taxable retail sales dropped 2 percent.
The tax hikes are part of a legislative revenue package to generate approximately $780 million.
The state’s Department of Health sees the price increase on tobacco products as an opportunity to encourage smokers to quit the habit.
“Raising tobacco prices is one of the most effective ways to reduce smoking,” said Secretary of Health Mary Selecky. “Quitting smoking improves a person’s health within hours, and saves money, too.”
Selecky estimates a packa day smoker who quits will save nearly $2,500 a year.
According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and other public health organizations, the tax increase on cigarettes will prompt 19,000 adults to quit smoking while discouraging twice as many kids from lighting up — saving more than $854 million in health care costs.
Kevin Choi, owner of Smoke City in Stanwood, said it is too early to tell if the additional tax will affect his business, or encourage smokers to quit.
He has heard from regular customers that they are shopping around for the best deals, not questioning their habit.
Customers have admitted to driving longer distances to purchase cigarettes from smoke shops on tribal reservations and to ordering cartons online, said Choi.
