$2 cigarette tax hike takes effect April 1st

A new tax taking effect tomorrow is set to up the price of cigarettes by two dollars in California. The price hike comes after Proposition 56 was passed back in November.

That brings the current cigarrette tax of 87 cents to $2.87.

Most of the money earned from it is set to go towards Medi-Cal.

“I think it’s a good idea because, I really think that tobacco is poison” said Monterey resident Gene Brown.

Seaside resident Mary Anderson agrees, “I think that’s good, people should quit smoking.”

Gene and Mary are non-smokers, still, their opinion mirrors that of Chris O’Keefe, a smoker himself.

“It’s a dirty habit so the more tax revenue you can get [from it] and hopefully it goes toward supporting healthcare” said O’Keefe.

Despite his support, Chris doesn’t think the tax will make a difference for all smokers.

“Somebody who’s a diehard addict is not going to quit smoking because of a two dollar increase” he said.

Employees at Marina Spirit Smoke Shop, say most customers are well aware of the upcoming tax increase to cigarettes.

“They have been stocking up for that reason and I’m telling [those that didn’t know] about it like ‘oh the tax is going up’ and then they start stocking up” said employee Dakota Henderson. “We’ve just been getting rid of all the cartons today.”

Right now, Dakota says her concern is when the customers who are unaware of the tax increase are faced with sticker shock.

“It would make us become really busy if I had to call my boss every 10 seconds for each person to figure out a price” Henderson said.

It’s not just cigarettes, taxes are also set to rise for other tobacco products along with vaping.

The new tax is expected to raise 1.4 dollars a year.