Maria Charlton took a drag on a Kool cigarette Tuesday just outside the Broward County Courthouse, savoring one of her last smokes ever. When the state tax on cigarettes jumps a buck to $1.34 a pack Wednesday, Charlton is going cold turkey.
“I’m not paying a whole more dollar for cigarettes,” snapped Charlton, 45, of Pembroke Pines. “It’s not worth it to me.”
Smokers like Charlton are feeling picked on lately. The 294 percent increase in the state excise tax follows a 159 percent increase in the federal cigarette tax, from about 39 cents to $1.01 a pack, on April 1. That’s in addition to some Big Tobacco companies raising prices by more than 40 cents a pack earlier this year. Now, with the latest hike, smokers will see some of their favorite name-brand smokes costing $5 to $6 or more a pack.
Smokers can no longer dodge the tax by buying cigarettes on an Indian reservation, either. Under the new law, nontribe members buying smokes on an Indian reservation have to pay the full tax.
Bradenton’s Angela Freeman believes that the tax will have an immediate impact. She’s cut her one and a half pack a day habit in half in preparation for the tax.
Bill Soronen of Gulfport said that although he smokes, he appreciates the tax increase.
“I think it’s good – if we can get revenue out if it it can go into things like education,” Soronen said. “I already pay taxes anyway, who cares. It’s another buck, outta sight, outta mind.”
The cost increase, he noted, won’t stop him from smoking.
“I wish I could quit,” the 30-year-old said. “ I’ve heard others say if it goes up anymore they’re going to quit , but even when it got raised the first time, they didn’t’ quit.
Brad Rimes, 27, of Wauchula, who works for Prime Environmental Landscaping of Myakka City, said the higher tax won't change his habits, either.
“It doesn’t matter how much they cost if you want one,” said Rimes, who said he has smoked since he was 16. “It kind of makes me want them more now that they’ve gone up.”
Myakka City’s Christine Wasley, a non-smoker, was excited about the tax.
“I’m glad because kids won’t be able to get them so easily,” she said.
Every morning at Interstate-75 and State Road 64, Phillip Uralil, a clerk at the Dash-In Citgo, waits on his regular customers, who dash in for a pack of smokes on the way to work.
Over the past month or so, Uralil has been reminding them that they should stock up.
He has about 50 regulars and not one bought extra in preparation for today’s hike, he said.
“That tells me that they are probably not caring about going to an American Indian store or quitting,” Uralil said.
Uralil’s Marlboro smokers, and there are many he said, will be paying $5.59 plus tax , more than $6, for a pack today.
“I have one regular who said he would pay $8 a pack,” Uralil said.
While he was talking, one of his regulars, Dwight Taylor, who cooks chicken across the street at Kentucky Fried Chicken on State Road 64 and I-75, dashed in for a pack of Newports. He paid $4.78 plus tax. Today he will pay $5.64 plus tax.
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