Paleo-Restaurant

[Courageous Inmate Sort]

FWIW, the Brazilian government is trying to apply the same smoking restrictions that already exist in two or three states to the whole country. Furthermore, they are setting a 300% tax rate on cigarettes. I'm not sure exactly what will be the details of those rules, but it is certainly not a good sign for us living here.

 

[Muxel]

Furthermore, they are setting a 300% tax rate on cigarettes.

300%?!! Does that mean you pay for the cigarettes, then pay 3 times that amount as tax? But that's outrageous!

 

[SeekinTruth]

I'm not sure what that 300% tax rate refers to specifically, but isn't it pretty much similar in the US and Europe? For instance, when, say you pay $12 in New York City for a pack of cigarettes, about $8 to $9 or so of that is different taxes (local, state, federal, etc.). So you're paying about 3 times more in taxes than the price of the actual pack of cigarettes.

I remember around 1997-1998 (when I was still living in NYC) the price for cigarettes started dropping. It went from average $2.50 to $3.00 a pack down to $1.50 to $2.00, although getting it for $1.50 to $1.75 was easier to find just across the Hudson River in New Jersey. I had a friend who lived in Fort Lee just across the George Washington Bridge and my parents lived a couple of towns over, so I used to drive across the bridge often to visit and get cigarettes at a gas station for 1.50-1.75 a pack.

Someone told me at the time that the tobacco companies were reducing the prices as the governments were increasing taxes on them so that the price stayed the same or was even going lower. When I left the U.S. in 2006, for the last year or two, a pack was around $4 to $5. I've heard recently from friends that in NYC and also in Boston area a pack is from $12 to $15. It's really outrageous no matter how you look at it.

Meanwhile, local pre-rolled cigarette brands in my country are about 60 to 70 cents U.S. a pack and they've gone up in price recently. They used to be about 45 to 55 cents.

 

[Courageous Inmate Sort]

Furthermore, they are setting a 300% tax rate on cigarettes.

300%?!! Does that mean you pay for the cigarettes, then pay 3 times that amount as tax? But that's outrageous!

Yes, that is exactly it. However, you don't actually know how much tax you're paying because they charge the tax from the industry that makes the cigarette and then the industry includes this cost in the price of the cigarette when selling it to the distributor. So when it comes to the final consumer, it is not easy to know exactly how much tax you're paying for each pack of cigarettes.

It is outrageous, indeed. Unfortunately collecting tax is the one thing that the Brazilian government does well. Misusing the amounts collected would come as a very close second.

EDIT: It is possible to set forth a very high rate and to simultaneously reduce the tax base (the amount to which you apply the rate), so I'm going to wait until the final law is out to see what exactly they have done.

 

[Muxel]

Manipulating both price and tax amounts; these guys are just playing with numbers. I've never bought cigarettes before so all this is crummy news. Would it be cheaper to roll my own tobacco like the C's said? I'd love to have one of those long graceful wooden smoking pipes.

Meanwhile, local pre-rolled cigarette brands in my country are about 60 to 70 cents U.S. a pack and they've gone up in price recently.

 

[HowToBe]

I love this idea of a "paleo" restaurant/smoking bar. If the building had room, it could also be a place for EE classes. It would be great to see this happen.