A study, The illegal cigarette market in a socioeconomically deprived inner-city area: the case of the South Bronx,” published in Tobacco Control “found that 76.2% of cigarette packs collected avoided the combined New York City and State tax.”
The study also found “based on the identifiable tax stamps in our sample, that in March 2011 15.9% of the tax stamps on cigarette packs discarded in the South Bronx were counterfeit.”
The study concluded that:
The present study highlights the importance of examining the illegal cigarette market in socioeconomically deprived regions of the US, where tax avoidance and black market activities appear to far exceed levels found elsewhere in the country including Chicago and New York City at large.
The study may be found here.
