Hi Mark,

>>> Over here it's called income equalizing. A very important matter for
>>> us, and one of the many reasons we accept high taxation...

>> Some people have said that NYS taxes are high.  We don't find them
>> that high.

>wages and costs are also higher up there, too... look at the cost of a pack of

Wages are higher it seems, yes.  Costs, not so much... at least that we've
found.

>cigarettes in NYC... $12US to $15US?? really? that includes an $4+US cigarette

Well I can buy a pack of Pall Malls for $9 across the street at the coffee shop
down the street   But usually we go to PA to buy cigarettes by the carton
for my foul habit when I visit relatives there. :)  Cigarettes _are_ cheaper
there than in NYS.

> tax and a state sales tax of ~$1.50US?? the following numbers (taken from
>http://fairreporters.net/health/prices-of-cigarettes-by-state/ ) are from july
> 2015...

NYS is trying to make everyone quit.  They think hitting people in their
pockets will do the trick...

>at that same time, the average cost of a pack of smokes in australia (based on
> a comment at the above site link) was about $29.63US ($40.00AU)...

Wow.

> http://cigarettesprices.strikingly.com/ has average 2013 prices of a pack of
> smokes for all countries except australia... pretty revealing... but then one
> can also read articles where folks in some of these areas grow their own
> tobbacco for their own smokes... in some places, they can do that (grow their
> own) but it is illegal to sell those smokes to others...

> we wont even look at the cost of milk...

In NYS there is no tax of food.. that's something   2% milk that we buy
is $2.99 a gallon. Eggs are about $1.39 a dozen.

Our taxes may be considered high overall but we don't think they're high and
even our property taxes aren't that bad.. And for the taxes we do pay, we get
good services.

Take care,
Janis

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