Eternal amazement

A shocking turn of events:

Less than two years after Minnesota raised its cigarette tax to one of the highest in the country, cigarette smuggling has become a growing business in the state. Now officials want more money to combat the problem.

Of course they do. Why do they need more money? To punish people who make rational decisions, of course:

Frank Orton, who owns Ortons Convenience Stores, said two of his 15 stores are losing customers to his competitors across the state border. His Moorhead location is just one exit away on Interstate 94 from a North Dakota convenience store that also sells cigarettes. There, the state cigarette tax is only 44 cents.

Orton estimates that cigarette sales are down by about 40 percent at his Moorhead and East Grand Forks stores, though he declined to provide more specific sales figures.

“I don’t think all those people quit smoking.” Orton, 33, said. “They just drive one exit over to Fargo and buy them for $3 less a pack.”

Meanwhile, the state wants Orton to pay for more enforcement:

Orton said he supports the effort to curb smuggling because it evens the playing field for businesses. But he says it is unfair for the state to raise the cigarette tax so high and then two years later ask tobacco retailers to pay a state license fee to fund enforcement efforts. Orton notes that during the debate on whether to raise the state’s excise tax on tobacco, retailers warned it would hurt sales and lead to smuggling.

“We pointed this all out and it all fell on deaf ears,” he said. “Now what we’ve told them would happen is occurring.”

For the record, the current tax on a pack of smokes in Minnesota is $2.90.