Todd Nesbit

Jun 17, 2024 | mackinac.org | Michael D. LaFaive |Todd Nesbit

Maryland Governor Wes Moore recently signed a budget agreement that would raise taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco and vaping products, the cigarette tax will increase by $1.25, to $5.00 per pack. Lawmakers should rethink their plan. We estimate that nearly one-third of all cigarettes consumed in Maryland in 2022 came to market through tax avoidance and evasion, or what we call smuggling.

Mar 14, 2024 | mackinac.org | Michael D. LaFaive |Todd Nesbit

| Font size: 75% 100% 125% 150% Each year since 2008, the Mackinac Center has estimated the degree to which cigarettes are smuggled in and out of the Great Lake State, as well as other states. Our latest estimate is that 17.1% of all cigarettes consumed in Michigan in 2022 were a function of tax evasion and avoidance. We expect that figure to rocket to as high as 40.7% if recently introduced legislation to raise cigarette excise taxes and ban flavored nicotine products is enacted. Such a...

Nov 27, 2023 | mackinac.org | Michael D. LaFaive |Todd Nesbit

Senate Bill 648 was introduced November 9 with little fanfare, but it deserves a lot of attention for the size and scope of the revenue grabs and unintended consequences it will cause. The proposal would raise excise taxes on cigarettes by 75% (from $2.00 per pack to $3.50), increase the tax on other tobacco products from 32% to 57% of the respective wholesale price and impose a new tax on electronic smoking products.

Sep 27, 2023 | mackinac.org | Michael D. LaFaive |Todd Nesbit

Last week one of these authors (LaFaive) had the pleasure of working with a network of colleagues on an important economic measure published annually by the Fraser Institute. It is known as the “Economic Freedom of North America” index and it is designed to objectively measure economic freedom in the 50 United States, Mexican states and Canadian provinces by the degree to which each is more or less economically free.

Sep 19, 2023 | mackinac.org | Michael D. LaFaive |Todd Nesbit

| Font size: 75% 100% 125% 150% This article appeared July 9 2023 at American Institute for Economic Research. Since 2008 we have published (with the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation) estimates on the degree to which cigarettes are smuggled, by state, including those exported to Canada or imported from Mexico. New rules to ban menthol cigarettes being considered by the Food and Drug Administration may dramatically hike cigarette smuggling. Our most recent estimates indicate that one...