Guess how much a pack of cigarettes cost in Chicago?

[linazelle]

Poll question: Guess how much a pack of cigarettes cost in Chicago?

[LynnTheDem]

1. It's $6 to $9/pack here

Good thing I planned on quitting.

[MrModerate]

2. I stopped smoking about 15 years ago . . .

And it was up to $3.50 in San Francisco by then.

[ScreamingMeemie]

3. Closing in on $6 in Michigan

I think it depends on the "convience" of the store.

[linazelle]

4. I'm going to give it away...they now cost $7.56!!!!

I visited my mother yesterday. She told me they cost that much but I didn't believe it. I stopped at a gas station and ding ding ding--the price was $7.56.

I moved away from Chicago two years ago. It is becoming impossible to survive there IMHO. And of course, a lot of this has to do with the lack of federal funding since Illinois is a Blue State.

On either side of Chicago--in Indiana and Wisconsin--cigarettes cost less than $4.

[alcuno]

18. It's a Cook County tax.

Lake County is about $3.60 per pack.

[Jayhawk Lib]

5. Looks like price gouging to me.

Maybe we should have hearings on this. Cigarettes should not cost more than gasoline.

[beam me up scottie]

9. Taxes.

Not price gouging.

[Jayhawk Lib]

26. High taxes???

Sounds like the government is price gouging to me.

[beam me up scottie]

29. Would you prefer they tax food?

:shrug:

[linazelle]

31. Yes it's taxes. Cigarette taxes like gasoline taxes have always

been a sure thing for governments.

They know that they will not lose revenues if they increase cigarette taxes, because even if people buy fewer cigarettes, so many are still addicted that the number who stop buying does not match the size of the tax increase.

[Katherine Brengle]

10. Cigarettes should cost as much as possible--

Listen, I just quit last week, so I understand the outrage, but cigarettes should cost ten bucks a pack, at least.

Higher prices mean less smokers--especially young smokers.

That's a good thing.



Raise the price of cigarettes, lower the price of products that assist quitters.

[ScreamingMeemie]

14. I don't think that will stop kids. Beer costing 10 bucks a case doesn't

stop them.

[Katherine Brengle]

19. Smoking is a constant--

when you are a smoker, you need to buy smokes every day, or every other day--very few teens drink enough for it to make a big financial difference.

$50 a pack then--let the very rich who can afford to pay for medical care when they get lung cancer buy the cigarettes...

[ScreamingMeemie]

33. I disagree.

I quit smoking, but I don't think targeting smokers is the answer. With this way of thinking we should be taxing (heavily) fast food...butter...alcohol...etc.

It's gotten outrageous. Kids will pay whatever it costs...if they have to bust open the piggy bank, this just won't work. Plus, it's discrimantory. Ask my dad, a person who never picked up a cigarette in his life, yet is the biggest smoking advocate I know of. :hi:

[Hippo_Tron]

20. A case of beer is different than a pack of cigarettes

You can split a case of beer (which is definately more than 10 bucks unless you are drinking natty light, btw) between 3 or 4 friends and have a pretty wild night. If you are addicted to cigarettes, you are buying them at 10 bucks a pack and not just buying a pack one night a week, you are buying them every day or every other day.

[Katherine Brengle]

22. lol--exactly what i said. :)

[ScreamingMeemie]

34. You can do the same with a pack of cigarettes. Most kids, when they

start smoking, do exactly that. This is not going to work.

[beam me up scottie]

15. How are you doing?

I quit a few years back, thanks to Welbutrin and the help of my doctor, who is also an ex-smoker.

[Katherine Brengle]

21. Really good--it's been... about 10 days now...

That's an approximation--I am not good with dates and stuff like that, but it has been more than 8 and I think more than 9 lol.

[beam me up scottie]

23. It's tough.

I had to keep reminding myself of the reasons I was quitting.

Snapping the rubber band on my wrist helped too.

[Jayhawk Lib]

25. Higher gas prices would mean less use of

fossil fuels and that would be a good thing.

[Tyranny of Evil Men]

11. Blame Taxes

If you're a smoker and you travel you'll know all about price variations in taxes.

In Central Virginia I could buy a pack of cigarettes for $2.50, it's even less in Kentucky and Tennessee.

In New York City they'll top $7.00 per pack.

Different states and cities have vastly different tax rates on cigarettes. It's not tobacco company gouging; believe it or not. My godfather's son-in-law works as a quality assurance/line supervisor for RJ Reynolds (No, not a PC job but he doesn't smoke.) and they can make a carton of cigarettes for about $3 something. They sell them for $9 something and of that $9 something $2 goes to the tobacco settlement funds.

The great variation in prices is due to taxes.

[RB TexLa]

17. Yep, BYOC when I go to Brooklyn

I smoke the cheaper brands usually, pay $2.28 for them at one store and $2.34 at another.

Got Kool buy one get one for $4.57 on the way home tonight.

[HeeBGBz]

6. post hiccup

eom

[HeeBGBz]

7. A lung and some change

eom

[linazelle]

8. LOL nt

[Wheres The Beef]

12. As soon as cigs get to a buck a pack

I'M QUITTIN

[beam me up scottie]

24. !

:D

[in_cog_ni_to]

13. I'm just south of Chicago and cigs at our gas station are $3.40.

You can get a carton for $34 and change...major brands, not generics.

[depakid]

30. I was amazed when I was in Chicago last summer

at the range of prices for all sorts of things in the neighborhoods around the city. I'm sure there was some rhyme and reason to it- but I sure couldn't see it.

[harpo]

16. I'm glad I quit

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

27. discount-cigarettes-store.com. It's A Wonderful Thing...

[oneold1-4u]

28. It's the tax

In OR it is $12 state tax per carton and they plan to raise it another $6. It was always supposed to go into the health and care system but they cut that back to "bare bones" so where does all the money go? hahahahahaha

[SheilaT]

32. I wouldn't know because I don't smoke.

If there were no other reason not to smoke, I'd think the cost alone would make most people, other than perhaps rich Republicans, swear off the evil weed.