Cigarette Tax Goes Up, But Will Smokers Quit?

With the proposed increased tax, a pack of cigarettes in New York City will be as high as $12.00. For the pack a day smoker, the monthly cost of 336.00 could be adversely life changing. Yet I believe that most adults, even those in financial distress will continue to support their habit. Some companies will not hire smokers and will fire anyone who does smoke because of the additional costs to their health care. In this economy, jobs are hard to come by yet I believe most smokers will risk their jobs to keep smoking.

According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, over $96 billion is spent on public and private health care combined and each American household spends $630 a year in federal and state taxes due to smoking.

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