"Cigarette Prices Rise Ahead of Looming Taxes"

Little Rock - Though higher federal taxes on cigarettes remain weeks away, at least two U.S. Cigarette manufacturers already have raised prices across their lines and another is cutting some wholesaler discounts as demand drops.
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Both Altria Group Inc., which owns Philip Morris USA, and Lorillard Inc., which makes Newport cigarettes, increased their carton and pack prices in recent days. While neither company would say what prompted the increases, a new $.62 federal tax will be coming in April and lawmakers in more than a dozen states have proposed bills making cigarettes even more expensive to fund health programs and force a reduction in smoking rates.
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Reynolds American Inc., the nation's second-largest cigarette company, has cut some of the discounts it offers wholesalers for the month of March.

Manufacturers are responsible for paying federal excise taxes on cigarettes, while wholesalers cover the cost of state taxes when they sell to gas stations, convenience stores and other shops.
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Fifteen states, including Arkansas, are considering raising their cigarette taxes.
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However, two neighboring states to Arkansas have the lowest state tax rates in the nation. Mississippi charges $.18 a pack, while Missouri charges only $.17 - meaning a tax increase might drive some Arkansans into making their purchases across the state line.
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Arkansas' proposed $.56 increase, which already passed the state House, would pay for a statewide trauma system and a host of expanded health programs.
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So now smokers in Arkansas have few choices.  My cigarettes used to be a little over three dollars.  With R. J. Reynolds increasing their price per pack, the new state tax and the new Federal tax, it's $4.80 per pack.  For those who smoke a pack a day, that's like an extra 30 dollars a month or more.  And the Arkansas tax raise is suposed to fund for a new trauma unit.  That's right.  I used the letter A.  Not two units, not a better healthcare system, but A new unit.  I'm not impressed in the least.  Matter of fact I am pissed.  How much you wanna bet I'll be making a biweekly trip to the reservation in Oklahoma for a carton or two?  Watch me.  It's a twenty minute drive. 

It's that or quit....   And well, it's one of the only vice's I have left, and I kinda like it.  Is that really such a crime?