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Alcohol tax goes down a little easier
Jump to full article: Burlington (VT) Free Press, 2009-07-02
Author: John Briggs, Free Press Staff Writer • July 2, 2009
Intro: Cigarettes in Vermont cost a quarter more a pack and $2.50 more a carton, and the 6 percent state sales tax applies for the first time to liquor, all the result of legislation that took effect Wednesday. Liquor? No big deal, beverage store proprietors said. Cigarettes? That's another story. . . .
"They're trying to out-price it," she said of the extra 25 cents a pack, "but if everyone stopped smoking, they'd have to find something else to go after."
Would the extra charge persuade her to stop?
"Probably not," she said.
Maher said the state's intent was to "isolate a certain group." The price increases would at some point lead to bootlegging, she said. "It'll be what the Prohibition was."
Frantz Ozanic, a 20-year smoker, also standing in front of the library, said Vermont was moving in steps to make cigarettes "unobtainable."
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