New cigarette tax means much higher prices for some

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If you smoke cigarettes, you’ve probably noticed in the past few weeks that it’s costing more to light up.

Philip Morris USA raised its prices in February, and retailers are beginning to catch up and pass the costs on to consumers.

Along the Grand Strand, price increases range from $0.75 to more than $1. For instance, a pack of Marlboro Lights costs on average $3.30 a few weeks ago, but now some stores are selling them for as much as $4.92 per pack.

And beginning April 1, 2009, a new federal excise tax will mean an additional $0.62 per pack — bringing that pack of Marlboro Lights, for example, to an estimated $5.53.

Lisa Lewis bought two packs of Marlboro Reds at the BP Food Shop in Conway on Sunday and called the increase ridiculous.

“I’m trying to quit so to avoid these high prices,” she said.

Laura Navarro works at the BP Food Shop and says customers have started taking notice.

“They bicker a little bit about how high they’ve gone,” she explained.

People like Peggy Larimore were caught off guard.

“It was like a $9 jump from the week before on a carton,” and continued, “I didn’t know what to think. I thought that maybe I need to quit smoking.”

Larimore and others may really feel like quitting on April 1, 2009 when the new federal tax goes into effect — a plan by President Obama to raise money to insure millions of uninsured children.

No matter the cause, it means smokers will pay more, and a lot of them don’t like it.

“They gone up a dollar already. Now they going to go up again sixty more cents on each pack … That’s ridiculous,” said longtime smoker Johnny Williams.

For Williams and others, the recent hike and the new tax to come might mean implementing a new plan: smoking on a budget or not smoking at all.

“But I really don’t want to quit. I enjoy smoking, but I can’t afford to pay the prices,” Williams said.

“Me slowing down is hard, but I’m doing it because I don’t want to pay no higher prices. No, I don’t want to pay higher taxes on cigarettes. It’s ridiculous,” said Lewis.

But the clerk at the BP store says people are still going strong and that she doesn’t expect people to quit completely.

“They might change brands of cigarettes to go to a cheaper pack, but they’re still going to buy cigarettes.”

Will you? Leave a comment on this story and read on for what others are saying.

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