For smokers, a sense of defiance, defeat over tax hike
05:03, 2008-Jun-4
Ducking into SoHo smoke shop Cigarillios yesterday afternoon for a regular fix of Camel No. 9, hairstylist Lindsey Mollenhaufer was struck by sticker shock.
"Nine dollars!" she gasped at the extra $1.50 she ended up paying.
"It's another reason to quit smoking, which I guess I will have to do sooner or later, anyway," said Mollenhaufer, 23, of Harlem.
She is not alone.
Defiance and defeat wafted across the area yesterday as a $1.25 tax hike brought the total state levy on cigarettes to $2.75, the most expensive in the country. New York City collects an extra $1.50 per pack on top of that.
John Costa, 27, who has been smoking for 14 years, began cutting back to a half-pack two months ago because "the city just got too expensive."
"I tried to quit before," said Costa, a real estate manager from Sheepshead Bay. "It doesn't work. Now I got to go to Jersey for cigarettes and gas."
New York University student Oksana Yakunenko, 20, says she already tried to quit once because of the expense. "I smoke less when I am really broke. I go back to smoking when I have more money," she said.
Others were ready to buckle.
Eugene Everett, 48, a nursing assistant from Staten Island, has been trying to wean himself off his 15-year habit. He's already been prescribed the patch and has cut back from half a pack to five cigarettes a day, buying them loose at two for $1.
"Last time, I could afford it, but that's it," Everett said of the tax. "It's too much money."
