Economist Hoffer on the U.S. new No. 1 in cigarette smuggling, while Wisconsin lags on promoting tax policy

Smuggling cigarettes is a thing and there’s a new No. 1 in town, when it comes to which state does that the most. Economist, Dr. Adam Hoffer, joins to talk about the Tax Foundation’s latest report on cigarette smuggling. Wisconsin ranks 19th in the U.S., while Minnesota is sixth in the latest rankings. Hoffer explains why it happens and how states kind of depend on that excise tax from cigarettes too much because people don’t smoke as much as they used to. Hoffer also vents about how Wisconsin is missing out on promoting certain tax policies being situated next to high-taxed states in Minnesota and Illinois.  And, like we do every week, we also hit on a sports topic, as Hoffer used to teach sports economics at UW-La Crosse. That topic this week was colleges trying to catch up financially with a new ruling that they must pay their players. The University of Minnesota is adding $200 to tuition to support athletics, while the Iowa State is pausing $45 million in sports building projects because of a budget deficit. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.