Tobacco Sales Regs Punish Poor People: New at Reason

The nanny state doesn’t stop.

John Stossel writes:

Store owner Kamal Saleh was just hit with thousands of dollars in fines.

His crime? He sold three cigars for $8.89. “Too cheap!” say New York City bureaucrats. “The cigars should have cost 11 cents more.”

Politicians want you to spend more for tobacco.

They decided this after anti-smoking crusader Dr. Kurt Ribisl told the Centers for Disease Control, “Higher prices will deter children from smoking.”

A pit of socialist micromanagers called the New York City Council quickly embraced the idea. “It’s also being considered very seriously in a number of jurisdictions in California,” Ribisl told me.

When health totalitarians make suggestions, leftist politicians jump.

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