# taxation without respiration **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 26, 2001, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taxation-without-respiration/51879 "2001-01-26T16:48:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2001, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taxation-without-respiration/51879/1 "2001-01-26T16:48:36Z")
how much would the average pack of cigarettes be if one subtracted all the taxes on them? I’m getting them pretty cheap right now ($2.50 a pack, before 7% sales tax) (god save Wawa), but I wonder. jb ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2001, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taxation-without-respiration/51879/2 "2001-01-26T23:17:12Z")
Pennsylvania’s state cigarette tax was 31¢ per pack in 1999. It may be more now. See [a table of cigarette taxes by state, 1999](http://www.tax.state.ny.us/Statistics/Policy-Special/Sourcebook99/Sourcebook99_Table_26.htm) Virginia’s tax is only 2.5¢ per pack, but it is illegal to transport more than one carton of cigarettes into Pennsylvania from outside. Alaska and Hawaii had the highest taxes, at $1 per pack. The Federal cigarette tax was 24¢ per pack as of early 1999. The tax was scheduled to rise to 39¢ by 2002. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2001, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taxation-without-respiration/51879/3 "2001-01-26T23:51:41Z")
But unfortunately, the answer is probably unknowable. Taxes (especially high ones like those on ciggies) tend to distort pricing. So if you assume taxes go to zero, it is still impossible to know with a high degree of confidence how much of the tax reduction would be reflected in the price of a pack, how much would go to retailers, distributors and the manufacturer, how many additional packs might be sold at a lower price, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2001, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taxation-without-respiration/51879/4 "2001-01-27T04:43:27Z")
A carton of Marlboro Red Box in Mexico goes for 11 bucks. That’s $1.10 per pack for the math-impaired. I imagine there’re probably taxes on that amount, too. Now just be honest and have a prescription when you cross the border… ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2001, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taxation-without-respiration/51879/5 "2001-01-27T16:08:19Z")
Taxation Without Respiration is not cigarette tax. It is the estate tax. –Nott, the large ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2001, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taxation-without-respiration/51879/6 "2001-01-27T19:26:19Z")
**AskNott** , I’ll get back to you after thirty more years and another 300,000 Reds jb, conservatively