Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The cost of smoking is going up again. Come September, New York State will add another one dollar tax on cigarettes.
The president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores says this will only hurt stores, who will lose out to those seeking illegal cigarettes.
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Kent Sopris of the New York Association of Convenience Stores understands the state wants to keep cigarettes out of the reach of children and reduce the smoking population, but increasing the tax is not the answer, he tells WBEN. "What this is going to do is to hurt legitimate retailers who actually do ID checks, and actually do keep the products out of the hands of kids and forced folks to find cheaper and more illegal ways to purchase product," says Sopris. Instead, smokers will go to any of the illicit retailers that don't collect taxes, sell the illegal vapes, and sell cigarettes without taxes. He says the state will end up losing out on revenue and legitimate retailers will will lose business.
Sopris says convenience stores will lose out on cigarette buyers who also buy drinks and sandwiches at those stores. "We've been trying to work with the state and trying to get the state to understand that if they want to lower smoking rates, if they want to get illegal products out of the hands of kids. The way to do that isn't to raise taxes or to ban products," explains Sopris.
He says he's been working with the state to cut down on smoking with ways besides raising taxes. "The way to do that is to enforce the law. The laws that are on the book, and that is something that we're seeing in the cannabis world as well. There are the illegal stores and what the state should do is focus on closing them down," explains Sopris.
Sopris estimates a third of business for most convenience stores comes from tobacco sales.