No, don’t smoke. But if you do, your neighbors are ready to tax the tar out of you.
Three out of four residents support increasing the state tax on cigs by $1 per pack if a portion of those funds go to tobacco prevention. That’s the headline from a statewide UConn poll released Thursday by the Campaign for Sensible Tobacco Policy.
And attention politicians: Almost 40 percent of constituents say they would be more likely to support a candidate who supports that idea.
There are other neat statistics, too. Nearly 17 percent of the state lights up, spending an average of $1825 per year.
On April 1, the federal excise tax per pack jumped from 39 cents to $1.01, plus the state tax of $2.00 can almost double the price of smokes.
Oh, and – they can kill you.