As tobacco experience shows, tax increases affect peoples'
behavior  The Oklahoman Editorial Published: October 2, 2012
PRESIDENT Barack Obama and other liberals believe tax increases
won't change citizens' behavior and harm the national economy.
Consumer response to cigarette taxes proves them wrong.
Oklahoma's cigarette tax was increased by 80 cents to $1.03 per
pack in 2004, but compacts allowed nearly one in five tribal
smoke shops to collect only 6 cents per pack in tax. This
translated into a price advantage of as much as $10 per carton
over nontribal retailers and led to a massive shift in buying
habits. Although there were fewer than 200 tribal smoke shops
and roughly 4,500 nontribal outlets selling tobacco, American
Indian smoke shops soon accounted for nearly 50 percent of
cigarette sales in Oklahoma (and as much as 70 percent of the
Tulsa market). By 2006, it was estimated Oklahoma government was
losing roughly $48 million per year in tobacco tax collections
because of the shift.  Such glaring pr