When asked by this forum user what the new gas tax will do to gas stations on border towns, here's what one user had to say.
"This last cig tax increase was a killer. It made the spread to much and forced people, especially in tough economic times, to seek alternative ways to buy cigs. One of which was the state of New Hampshire.
Not only do you lose cig sales revenues, but when people go to New Hampshire they buy liquor and lottery too. Just read this in the Nashua Telegraph:
Cigarette sales brought in $20.1 million last month when only $18.3 had been expected.Likewise, liquor sales came in at $18.7 million; that was $3 million more than its forecast for December.
Although there was an additional dollar per pack tax, the Commonwealth raised more money right? Wrong, from the Belmont Citizen Herald:
State finance documents project a decline in tax collections of about 3.6 percent for fiscal 2009, instead of the assumed 3.8 percent growth.
Think about that, the Commonwealth added a dollar per pack tax to cigs to raise revenues to fund the new Commonwealth of Massachusetts health reform law and not only have they not raised more money, but actually collected less. At the same time New Hampshire collected 10% more then expected."
