Cigarette tax hits New Jersey

A new tobacco tax in New Jersey enacted this year has residents looking across state borders for cheaper prices.

Instead of letting their money go up in smoke, Laura McMullan's hometown friends often ask her to transport cigarettes from Pennsylvania to her home in New Jersey.

Because of a New Jersey tobacco tax enacted this year, which increased the tax on a pack of cigarettes from 40 cents to 80 cents, some New Jersey smokers are looking across state lines to save their money.

This increase, which came as a surprise to McMullan (junior-administration of justice), escalates the tax to more than two times Pennsylvania's 31-cents-per-pack tax.

"It was awful," she said. "I pulled up to a gas station with $2 out and they told me the prices had gone up."

Those thinking about making a profit on distributing cigarettes in New Jersey do face one barrier -- a New Jersey statute limiting the number of cartons of cigarettes that can be transported over state lines.

To get a deal, smokers can buy as many cigarettes as they would like in Pennsylvania, but can only take two cartons back to New Jersey. New York, which, prior to the New Jersey increase, had a slightly higher tax than its southern neighbor, has a similar regulation, said Mary Lou Murphy, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Division of Taxation.

With so much traffic going into New York City through New Jersey, Murphy said many people stocked up in New Jersey before they hit the state line. New Jersey has never had much of a problem with contraband cigarettes, she said. However, the state's office of criminal investigation will be ready to enforce the regulation, she added.

"We're going to keep an eye on the situation, but it's hard because New Jersey is such an open state," Murphy said, adding that there is no main city through which people enter the state.

Each pack of cigarettes regulated by New Jersey has a state seal stamped on it, Murphy said, making it relatively easy to determine if the cigarettes are imported from another state.

Although Dana DaGraca (junior-health policy administration) just learned of the two-carton rule, she said she didn't see it being enforced too strictly on individual smokers. However, the rule could increase surrounding states' cigarette sales, she said.

"I could buy 50 packs of cigarettes and go home and sell them to my friends," she said.

Both DaGraca and McMullan knew of the tax increase, but neither said they knew exactly what the money was going toward.

The new taxes will be donated to charity care, Murphy said. This covers hospital care for those who cannot afford it.

The taxes may be going toward healthcare, but DaGraca did not think the tax would cut down on the number of smokers.

"I don't see it stopping anyone," she said.