Real World Lesson In Excessive Taxation - Black Markets

Black Market Cigarettes Cost New York $20M a Month

The underground tobacco market in New York has spread in the wake of tax hikes that make the state's cigarettes the most expensive in the US -- and costs it tens of millions a month in lost tax revenue, the New York Post reported Friday.

Illegal cigarettes were pouring into neighborhood bodegas by the truckload from neighboring Indian reservations, lower-tax states in the South and even as far away as China, authorities said.

Government data showed that New York state was being smoked out of as much as $20 million a month by illegal cigarette purchases -- an estimated 7.3 million packs a month sold off the state tax radar.

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