Buck-a-box cigarette tax talk a drag for locals

LYNN – Gary Insuik can afford the cigarettes he smokes, but he thinks a proposed dollar-a-pack tax is going to be hit people less fortunate than him hard.”If I’m being robbed I’d rather they stick a gun in my face,” he said Friday.State Reps. Kathi-Anne Reinstein and Joyce Spiliotis this week said initial state spending discussions among their colleagues include a proposal for a hefty tax on smokers.It remains to be seen if the idea will officially surface in the Massachusetts House version of the spending plan for Fiscal Year 2009, slated to start July 1.Spiliotis thinks the state and the Massachusetts economy risk losing money if an additional cigarette tax is imposed.”Living so close to the border, we might drive additional business to another state,” she said.Insuik said the cigarette tax could potentially punish Massachusetts residents already struggling to afford mortgages or rent, heating oil and gasoline.”It’s a shortsighted solution,” he said.Cal’s News owner Paul Calvani relies on cigarette sales for a major share of his business and said a new cigarette tax will send his smoking customers to New Hampshire in search of savings.”It would go a long way to putting us away. They just want to kill business,” he said.Tobacco companies offer discounts on bulk purchases of cigarettes to Cal’s and other stores to help them boost cigarette sales.”It helps you beat the competition, but if they go up another dollar it will push sales to generic cigarettes which will hurt full brand sales,” Calvani said.Reinstein and Spiliotis are optimistic their Revere and Peabody constituents will see the House match increases in state assistance to schools and cities already proposed by Gov. Deval Patrick.Patrick is counting on gambling revenue to help provide local aid. Legislators are keeping a cautious eye on state tax revenue predictions before they pinpoint how to pay for aid and other state expenses.