Why cigarette prices in the USA do vary across states? The main reason for that are cigarette taxes. Governments do increase taxes on cigarettes in order to discourage people from smoking. Besides this, state governments get a lot of money from high taxes.
Generally, experts say that high tax on cigarettes is the best measure to reduce number of smokers in the state, because people do not want to pay a lot of money for a pack of their favorite cigarettes. However, smokers today buy cigarettes online at quite affordable prices. Internet offers a lot of online stores where cigarettes are very cheap!
On the mao below you may see where in the USA are registered high and low taxes on cigarettes. Darker green shows higher taxes.
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| Cigarette taxes across the American states CLICK TO ENLARGE |
You may note that in the USA the highest tax per pack of cigarettes is registered in New York where it is $4.35 per pack. This map includes only state taxes and does not include local taxes, therefore with these additional taxes the picture will be different. For example, local tax in New York city is $1.50 per pack and the final price is $5.85.
Here are the per pack cigarette tax rates:
