$13 a pack? De Blasio wants highest cigarette prices in US
In this April 7, file photo, cigarette butts are discarded in an ashtray outside a New York office building. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan on Wednesday to raise the price of a pack of cigarettes from $10.50 to $13 in the city. AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is pushing for the nation’s biggest city to also be the country’s priciest spot to buy a pack of smokes.
De Blasio is backing an effort to raise the price of a pack of cigarettes from $10.50 to $13, which he says would be the nation’s highest.
The Democrat announced his support Wednesday for a series of legislative proposals designed to drastically cut tobacco use in the city by the year 2020. De Blasio says his goal is to reduce the number of smokers in the city by 160,000.
