Smokes On the Rise?

Will your smokes cost you more money? If it's up to Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, they will soon. Daniels has proposed a cigarette tax increase to fund low income families with health insurance. NEWS 25 went to a local smoke shop to find out how this proposed tax could impact business. We talked to the owner of an Evansville smoke shop who told us, depending on the day, he brings in two to six hundred dollars from cigarette sales. But he said if the cigarette tax goes up, he'll feel the pinch. It's a small smoke shop that has always competed with the big chain gas stations for sales, but now, it may have to hold it's own against another, cheaper, State when it comes to smokes. "All they have to do is drive five to ten minutes to get a cheaper price, it's really going to hurt the business," Owner of Burn 'Em Down smoke shop, Jeremy Adams said. It hasn't happened yet, but it's some lawmakers top priority: pass a cigarette tax increase to fund insurance for low income Hoosiers and hopefully get people to kick the habit at the same time. If the tax passes, Adams says people will jump in their car and head for Kentucky to buy cheaper smokes. Indiana's cigarette tax is currently 55 and a half cents per pack while Kentucky's is only 35 cents. But if Governor Daniel's proposal to raise the tax by 25 cents passes, smokers could save almost fifty cents a pack. Tony Hazelwood told NEWS 25 he went across the border just Monday for cigarettes. "I paid almost a dollar cheaper then over here in Indiana. Anything to save a penny right now," Hazelwood said. And what about the theory that a stiffer tax would make for fewer smokers? Adams said he isn't buying it. "No way. All that's going to do is make them find the cheaper store to go to fill their supply," he told us. But one woman told NEWS 25 a higher price per pack would be just the incentive she needs to kick the habit. "I'm trying to quit smoking so I don't like paying over three dollars for a pack of cigarettes anyway, with the tax increase it's going to make it way more than I'm willing to spend," Samantha Dickens said. Regardless if customers take their business to Kentucky or quit all together, Adams said he's already thinking of more ways to keep customers coming in his store, in case the tax is passed. We talked to a man working at Smokes For Less on Highway 41 in Henderson who told us he has a lot of customers who already come from Indiana and said if the tax increase passes, he'll see many more. NEWS 25 also talked to Democrat State Representative, Dennis Avery, on the phone who told us it would be foolish for legislators not to look at the economic impact this tax would have on border businesses when considering this bill.