On June 1st of 2020, the busy-bodies in the Bay State banned menthol-flavored cigarettes. Here in the Granite State, we said thank you. Before summer was over, NH had added over 16 million in new revenue as a result. The latest figures push that to over 28 million in six months.
Related: NH has E-Cig Sales Windfall After Massachusetts Bans Vaping.
In these trying times, becasue political temps have flexed their muscles to suppress commerce in the name of public health, the Bay State’s busybody ways are helping us offset those losses with (ironically) increased tobacco sales.
Massachusetts’ move to ban menthol tobacco products cost the Bay State more than $62 million in lost tax revenue. Meanwhile, New Hampshire has gained more than $28 million in tobacco excise taxes since the ban took effect.
“You’re welcome, New Hampshire,” Jon Shaer, executive director for NECSEMA, told NHJournal. “Massachusetts’ loss is New Hampshire’s gain.” Stores north of the Bay State line “have seen increases of 500 to 600%,” Shaer said.
This is an old habit, not a new trend. In 2019, Massachusetts banned vaping after a major study linked to vaping and bad health outcomes inspired the knee-jerk ban. The study, as it turns out, got pulled for misleading and unreliable data.
New Hampshire, which did not ban vaping, reaped the rewards. People looking to end their cigarette habit or to stay off it, and those who prefer to vape, made the drive north to buy what they wanted.
We see similar growth due to the Loony Left (to our left) in Vermont and increasingly from Maine.
We do not object, but the windfall is tenuous.
We have the same Democrats here, many of whom moved to New Hampshire from Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York. They left to escape jurisdictions that would not leave them alone, only to vote for that treatment after arriving here.
I guess they don’t know how to escape abusive relationships. And that’s a problem.
If we ever have a Democrat majority Legislature and a Democrat governor again, all this easy money is gone. Spending will increase, taxes will rise, and we’ll find ourselves little-different from the state’s around us. Indiscernible; camouflaged by busy-body Leftists until seeing there is no reason to visit the Granite State to buy cigarettes, vaping products, booze, letter tickets, or even fireworks.
Talk about ironic.
The so-called smart party is obsessed with increasing government spending but immediately shoots the geese that lay the golden eggs. From sin-taxes to business taxes, Democrats destroy everything they touch.
Be vigilant, New Hampshire. We’re one election away from being Massachusetts, and then where do people go to escape.
South Dakota, Texas, Florida, to name a few. Assuming the intend to stand up to the Democrats trying to turn America into California.
