New York City plans crackdown on smugglers and store owners after cigarette price hike. Signing a bill to make a pack of smokes at least $13, de Blasio vows to "intensify" enforcement.

Crain's New York Business reports:

Mayor Bill de Blasio and city Sheriff Joseph Fucito said Monday they will launch a crusade against black-market cigarettes, moments after the mayor signed a battery of bills raising tobacco taxes and price floors.

The legislation will jack up the minimum price of a pack of smokes to $13 from $10.50, and the cost of smokeless tobacco and shisha pouches to $17 from $8. Retailers will have to charge at least $8 for individual cigars.

Another law will impose a new 10% tax on loose tobacco, cigars, cigarillos and tobacco-laced shisha.

The mayor acknowledged that the cost increase may boost the market for so-called "loosies" and other under-the-counter tobacco transactions. But he insisted the city would "intensify" enforcement in order to counteract any such surge.

"There's always that danger of additional illegal activity, and what we have to do is do our best to disrupt that and intercept it," he said. "We don't ignore that threat, we have to confront it."

Fucito, the city's chief civil enforcement officer, laid out how his office would employ inspections, audits, fines and seizures to stop stores from flouting the new law by re-selling tobacco purchased in low-tax states. He even left open the possibility of bringing misdemeanor or felony charges against owners.

The tax penalty his officers levy against scofflaws is five times the regular excise, plus a penalty of $100.

NYC helps promote a market for organized crime ! Thanks Comrade de Blasio.