Texas Taxes on Liquor & Cigarettes

[NavyCruiser]

As a lifelong Texan, it really ticks me off that Texas now levy taxes of $3.75/liter on alcohol & $15/pack on cigarettes when returning to Galveston (Houston later) port.

Our Carnival cruise last January, it was for only Texas residents.

But just read on another thread that they now levy those taxes to Everyone in all states now.

 

Living in Houston, we usually buy a few bottles of alcohol & a few packs of cigarettes for friends & family when cruising out of Galveston, since it's a short drive back.

 

On our next August cruise on the Magic out of Galveston, still wonder if it's still a good deal or worth it to bring back those items from "duty free" stores on shore & on board....

 

Or maybe cheaper /more convenient to buy from Costco or Sam's club....

[CheckersMidwest]

yes, we just returned last week from the Magic out of Galveston. I have the sheet of paper they gave us telling what each tax will be.

 

It read that effective April 2014 ALL passengers will be charged the tax.

 

It doesn't effect us, as we don't buy those things in port, but so much for duty free. I wonder if they'll ever try to tax everything you purchase....

[bury me at sea]

When we disembarked in June in Galveston the Texas tax on cigarettes was about 15.00 per carton.

[watermelonqueen99]

Yep, we found this out the hard way when we returned to Galveston back in April. We were informed that the law had JUST gone into effect a few days prior. We ended up paying out the nose for all that "cheap" liquor we bought in port. We won't be making that mistake again. When we got outside to board our shuttle to the airport, there was a gentleman talking very loudly, making it very clear with lots of 4 letter words how upset he was about the cigarette tax. Epic fail on this one, Texas!

[WindsorFred]

Someone posted about this awhile back. For the first time we will be sailing into Galveston on our Freedom repo cruise. As I quit smoking 2 years ago and we haven't bought a bottle to take off for years won't matter to us but still think it sucks. So I suppose that now people will be smuggling liquor off the ship.

[NavyCruiser]

Wonder what the fines are if they catch us with smuggled liquor, cigarettes, & cuban cigars...

[MrSnarkyPants]

http://www.tabc.state.tx.us/home/press_releases/2013/20131220.asp

 

Just remember, the TABC has its own police force... :P

[jbryburg]

I'll go ahead and be the first to confess. When we disembarked from the Magic on Sunday and were waiting in line for customs with our porter, he noticed our sealed plastic bag with 2 liters of rum. He said, "here, I'll take care of that" and stuffed it between 2 of our bags on his cart and told us to ignore the TABC agent after the customs line. I was honestly confused because I didn't know anything about this tax until I read about it in another thread last night. As we walked through, the TABC agent was sitting on a stool near their counter just announcing to the crowd in general to step his way if you had cigarettes or liquor. I suppose I would have reacted differently if they had been aggressively searching our items. Nonetheless, I won't be buying liquor on a cruise in the future. What I bought really wasn't that great of a deal and the tax would have made it more expensive than buying it at home.

[swscruiser]

We've never purchased alcohol to bring back. Not worth the hassle to save $10 a bottle for a few bottles

[Shaded Lady]

We typically only buy booze as souvenirs for friends or thank you gifts for the ones watching our house and pets etc... but that was when I lived on the west coast of Florida and cruised out of Tampa and PC... now that I live in Texas and the state made these silly tax rules, New Orleans is looking pretty good to cruise from!

Edited July 16, 2014 by Shaded Lady

[LzyCruiser_NWA]

I thought the tax was only for TX residents or ppl who's going to stay in TX 48 hrs post cruise.

[wanderingjew]

I'll go ahead and be the first to confess. When we disembarked from the Magic on Sunday and were waiting in line for customs with our porter, he noticed our sealed plastic bag with 2 liters of rum. He said, "here, I'll take care of that" and stuffed it between 2 of our bags on his cart and told us to ignore the TABC agent after the customs line. I was honestly confused because I didn't know anything about this tax until I read about it in another thread last night. As we walked through, the TABC agent was sitting on a stool near their counter just announcing to the crowd in general to step his way if you had cigarettes or liquor. I suppose I would have reacted differently if they had been aggressively searching our items. Nonetheless, I won't be buying liquor on a cruise in the future. What I bought really wasn't that great of a deal and the tax would have made it more expensive than buying it at home.

Was he just sitting there or did he search? i wonder if you put it in a carry on would he stop you?

Edited July 16, 2014 by wanderingjew