Cigarettes Tax Increase and Smoke Shops, Cook County Board

Ali Al Meshal realizes he is in a unique position as Cook County Board members weigh a budget that includes a cigarette tax that will boost the price of a pack of smokes up by a dollar. Specifically, his position is manager of Border Tobacco, located on the south side of 183rd Street in Tinley Park — just over the line between Cook and Will County. With Cook County Board members weighing a budget package that includes a $1 per-pack increase to the cigarette tax, the price of a pack of smokes could be north of $10, and that means there is no better place to own a smoke shop than south of 183rd. "That's why we're here. In 1997, I worked at Tobacco House (a smoke shop in the same mall) and there was no one else here. We almost closed," said Al Meshal as he greeted a steady stream of customers on a recent afternoon. When Cook County raised cigarette taxes in 2006, that changed, and competition moved in, Al Meshal said. Al Meshal estimates 80 percent of his customers come from north of the Cook County line, some of them driving more than 20 miles to smoke Camels from his shop. A mile north of the county line, the situation gets more dire, insists Dave Eddy, owner of Eddy's Food & Liquor on 159th Street in Oak Forest. Business at Eddy's took a dive in 2006 after the tax increase, he said. When customers come into the shop, Eddy gives them the number for County Board Commissioner Joan Patricia Murphy, whose 6th District touches Will County and the state line. "Why does Cook County want to raise taxes? They are losing business," Eddy said. "Will County is about a mile from my store. Indiana is about 10 miles. "I don't know if we're going to be able to stay open. People come in one time, they see how much things cost, and they don't come back." Cook County cigarettes are among the most expensive in the nation, with a net tax per pack of $3.98 that would go to $4.98 if County Board members agree to another $1 hike called for in President Toni Preckwinkle's latest budge proposal. Smokers in Chicago pay an additional city tax of 68 cents, a total tax of $4.66 per pack that is the second-highest total tax on smokes in the country, behind the $5.85 paid by New York City smokers.