Summary: <p>"Everybody on Staten Island know, if you wanna pay $8 for a pack of cigarettes, go to Bay Street."</p> <p>Almost one year ago, cigarette salesman Debo Lato stood on the street where Eric Garner also allegedly sold loose cigarettes. Lato <a href="http://www.vice.com/read/i-spent-a-day-with-a-guy-selling-illegal-cigarettes-on-the-streets-of-nyc-1023" target="_blank">told reporter Solange Uwimana</a>, writing for Vice, that Garner's death would not hamper his black market business. Today, one year has passed since Garner died after being placed in a police chokehold — after he resisted arrest for selling loosies.</p> <p>Uwimana says the black market still seems to be thriving. </p> <p>Cigarettes in New York City are the most expensive in the country, thanks in large part to the taxes here. The state tax is <a href="http://www.tax.ny.gov/bus/cig/cigidx.htm">$4.35; the city excise tax adds another $1.50</a>. Garner's death has sparked a debate among both <a href="https://soundcloud.com/bogtrotter-1/rush-limbaugh-on-death-of-eric-garner-1">conservatives</a> and <a href="http://council.nyc.gov/html/pr/021115rmk.shtml" target="_blank">liberals</a> about whether the tax is leading smokers to quit, as it was designed to do. Staten Island is the borough with the most smokers in the city, according to a 2012 <a href="https://a816-healthpsi.nyc.gov/SASStoredProcess/guest?_PROGRAM=%2FEpiQuery%2FCHS%2FchsX&year=2012&var=rsmoke3&strat&strat1=c">NYC Dept of Health and Mental Hygiene Report</a>.</p> <p>Shortly after Garner's death, <a href="http://7online.com/news/mayor-hold-press-conference-on-staten-island-mans-death/199186/">Police Commissioner William Bratton</a> said though the sale of loose cigarettes may seem like a "minor quality-of-life offense," it hurts local businesses. While untaxed cigarettes continue to thrive, the <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/loose-cigarette-arrests-in-nyc-drop-in-year-after-eric-garners-death-1436992014" target="_blank">Wall Street Journal </a>reported that arrests of illicit cigarette salesmen have dropped in the past year.</p> <p>Money Talking Host Charlie Herman speaks with Uwimana, now with the <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/authors/solange-uwimana-7208899">Village Voice,</a> about her <a href="http://www.vice.com/read/i-spent-a-day-with-a-guy-selling-illegal-cigarettes-on-the-streets-of-nyc-1023">Vice report </a>to explore how the market works and what's changed one year later.</p>
