Spare the tax

The sign spinners are out and about again. Though this time, they aren't promoting cash for gold.

Smoke shops around the valley have been gearing up with new tobacco rolling machines, some selling packs of cigarettes for as low as $2.

At shops like DJ's (just north of campus across Southern), Rebel's Smoke Shop, and A & E Market (both three miles east of campus on Mesa Drive and Southern), owners have complete set-ups for rolling your own cigarettes and are selling Ziploc bags of twenty filters each, plus the necessary loose tobacco to roll them yourself.

"You get a bag of tobacco and filters and you roll them yourself. A machine can do it for you. They literally give you a bag. Making cigarettes is as easy as sliding a slide," said Josué Guerrero, a Business student here at MCC, who smokes.

Indeed, the process wasn't that complicated at all. At A&E Market, $2 even included a brief lesson from the clerk on how to use the cigarette rolling machines.

"You drop the tobacco into the machine and slide the empty filter on here," the clerk said, motioning to a small nozzle. "Press the button and you're done."

The thrifty $2 dollar price point has some questioning the validity of these sales, wondering, "If store owners can afford to sell full packs of cigarettes to customers for a mere $2 each, are they paying proper state taxes?"

They very well are.These stores are allowed to charge at the tax rate set for loose tobacco, which can be fractional compared to the price of taxes on a commercial pack of cigarettes.

In fact, data from Arizona's Department of Revenue indicates the required taxation on both cigarettes and loose tobacco - which are disparagingly different - due to being taxed on a 22.3 cents per oz basis, while in loose form, versus the traditional $2 per-twenty-pack rate when cigarettes are purchased pre-manufactured.

No tax evasion loopholes here. "The process is completely legal," explained Ashley Tonyan, who was working behind the counter at DJ's Smoke Shop.

"Essentially, the customer is buying two separate products; tobacco, and filters," said Tonyan, "however, smoke shops that can provide the machines for customers to roll are basically cutting out the manufacturer."

This is where the savings start to roll. Anne Martinez, Sustainability major here at MCC, said, "A regular pack costs like $8, but one person can roll twenty cigarettes for $2 in a few minutes."

Tonyan also expounded on rumors that the tobacco can actually be cleaner. Less chemical additives are infused into bags of loose smoking tobacco. While scientifically unconfirmed, the rumor of possibly smoking healthier cigarettes has drawn new customers to smoke.

"The only down side," according to student Guerrero, "was that the tobacco can come pretty generic."

Unlike A & E, and Rebel's, DJ's isn't currently equipped for rolling, however, just having the loose tobacco and filters has attracted more individuals hunting for cigarettes on the cheap.  Said Tonyan, "It's a growing craze and for us, it's bringing new people into the store."

In light of these savings, be mindful of any smoke shop that is selling pre-rolled twenty packs for the same low price as the roll it yourself shops. Technically it is the action of the store-owner physically rolling the cigarettes which constitutes bootlegging and the defrauding of government taxes.

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