A city sweep of 1,700 stores selling tobacco found that 42 percent of them are moving cigarettes without the $5.85 in taxes that Nanny Bloomberg requires. While local smoking is on the decline, falling 28 percent since 2003, so is the city’s tax revenue from tobacco, down 56 percent in the same time. So if you’re still gripped by addiction, it’s worth rolling the dice and asking the bodega guy for the “good price” — just practice the note of desperation in the mirror.
