Marlboro online

Local convenience stores see trouble in the proposal to nearly double the stateТs tax on marlboro online.

УItТs going to really kill business,Ф said Aman Singh, owner of Citgo Mart on Main Street. УTaxes are already killing people right now. They canТt afford no extra.Ф

But extra is exactly what theyТll get if the state budget as it currently exists passes both houses of the state Legislature.

The Legislature recently agreed to boosting the tax to $1.25 per pack, slightly less than the original increase hammered out in backroom negotiations between Gov. David Paterson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

But local store owners scoffed at projections that the increased tax would be a huge boost for the budget Ч saying it would merely drive smokers towards cheaper cigarettes on Native American reservations or over the Internet.