Taxes on Cigarettes in Michigan Make Them Attractive Targets For Thieves

$2 a pack

Early Sept. 13, three men involved in a robbery tried to run over a Warren police officer in a minivan that, according to police, had an estimated $10,000 worth of merchandise. Two of the men were shot trying to flee.

However, the loot wasn't cash or jewelry. Instead, police said they were after cigarettes, which Michael LaFaive, fiscal policy analyst at the Mackinac Center For Public Policy calls "gold bars."