Months ago I wrote about how I felt that the new cigarette tax in Indiana was unfair. I am not a smoker, but I felt that the tax exploited those who were chemically addicted to nicotine. Well, apparently the tax has worked and now other states are raising the bar.
Indiana has a 44 cent tax per pack of cigarettes. This tax has just helped reduce smoking by 20 percent. That is a massive decrease. Indiana is 6th in the country in terms of smoking (in a bad way). New York has just passed a $2.75 per pack tax. It is the highest such tax in the US.
We have just learned an important fact. Peoples’ behavior (chemically affected behavior) can be changed by hitting their pocket book. Now I wonder if we can change their bad financial behaviors (overspending and bad investing) by giving them cigarettes.
Peter Dunn a.k.a. Pete the Planner® is an award-winning financial mind and a former comedian. He’s a USA TODAY columnist, author of ten books, and is the host of the popular radio show and podcast, The Pete the Planner Show. Pete is considered one of the foremost experts on financial wellness in the world, but he’s just as likely to talk your ear off about bass fishing.