Nurse Bloomberg proposes the Mafia Fulltime Employment Through Cigarette Smuggling Act (though I think he’s offering it up under another name) to raise the price of cigarettes to $10.50 a pack. (Hat tip: Dwight)
And how well is that likely to work? “New York currently holds the top position as the highest net importer of smuggled cigarettes in 2011, with smuggled cigarettes totaling a staggering 60.9 percent of the total market. Not coincidentally, New York also has the nation’s highest state cigarette tax.”
You would think even Nanny State advocates might have learned from the example of Prohibition, but obviously not. It’s like Bloomberg watched The Untouchables and went “Hey, Al Capone! I bet I can boost that guy’s profits through the roof!” That is, when the smuggling isn’t funding jihad.
If Bloomberg is successful in getting this enacted, cigarette vendors in New Jersey should send him a nice thank you basket…
