This is a great idea to deal with the budget crisis. A hike in cigarette tax is welcome. I wonder why they didnt think of this sooner.

I'd like to also see a additional$1.50 a gallon tax put on gasoline,additional tax on electricity and heating oil-maybe people would then conserve.
Then I'd like to see a $50.00 a month tax put on cell phones,that way maybe people would put them down when driving
And what about a additional tax on alcohol?

And why not go after the junk/crap food.Why can't they put a additional tax on this stuff,ya know the stuff that has caused a obesity epidemic

AND..AND if you want to find millions and millions of dollars-go after the medicaid and welfare cheats
My cousin was a welfare investigator many years ago in NYC and the stories he told me had me boiling

I personally feel this tax increase is ridiculous and unfair to smokers. In the beginning they claimed to hike it up to urge people to quit, now they want to earn even more revenue from it. It makes me sick!! This tax basically exploits an individuals addiction simply for government profit as well as possibly creating a higher petty crime rate. (individuals who buy from out of state and sell here) New York has become an upper class city and is slowly taxing the middle class out!

I just wanted to add if the city is so strapped for cash maybe we should form a legitimite committee to investigate exactly how are tax dollars are being spent as we have seen in the news in the previous months, the amount of blatant corruption and extortion by our politicians and government officials!

Let's see, Georgina, I wonder what you like to do that we could tax. Maybe go for a mani-pedi? Let's add a two dollar tax to that! How about movies?
Let's add another two dollars in taxes to movie tickets after all sitting around a dark theater for hours isn't very healthy.

(And NO, I DON'T SMOKE! But I'm with Bobby I want to know where my current tax dollars are being wasted.)

You're equating going to a movie to smoking a cigarette. If you're talking about the snacks at the cinema, then OK, it can be unhealthy. However, it's in no way close to being as unhealthy as smoking.

Having said that, I would happily pay more for a mani-pedi and movies tickets as long as smokers pay a higher tax than I do.