It comes as no surprise: New Yorkers are going to Pennsylvania to by tobacco products. Why? Well, it could have something to do with the recent tax increase. Pennsylvania, essentially, is gaining the tax revenue that New York hoped to generate for itself. The number of cigarette tax stamps New York sold in July fell [...]
Continue reading about Proof: New York Tobacco Tax Drives Customers across State Lines
Yet another editorial in Pennsylvania laments the fact that a tobacco tax isn’t being used to protect jobs. The number of potential state layoffs has fallen from 1,000 to 200, but this protectionist measure doesn’t seem to be enough, as the writer asks, “Why are we even talking about layoffs?” Here’s the problem: taxing cigars [...]
Continue reading about More Flawed Begging for Pennsylvania Tobacco Tax
The demand for luxury tobacco has gone way up in recent times and as a result, Pennsylvania is now the only state that has increased the amount of tobacco production through farms by 28% between 2002 and 2007. Meanwhile, in other parts of the nation, southern plantations in particular, production have dropped by 72 percent. [...]
Continue reading about Luxury tobacco from… Central Pennsylvania?!?!
There still could be an $850 million gap in the Pennsylvania budget, and lawmakers are looking for a way to plug it. Governor Ed Rendell is using the threat of layoffs, which could reach 700, if the money isn’t found, giving him an easy platform from which to push other taxes, including one on cigars [...]
Continue reading about Pennsylvania Eyes Tobacco in Budget Debate
When I first spoke with Zivity about running a photo contest for Cigar Reader, I was thinking about the photos themselves. It didn’t occur to me at the time that there would be a unique story behind each of the 11 submissions. The message below comes from Zivity user and photographer chrismaverick, who submitted the [...]
Continue reading about Behind the Scenes: Zivity and Cigar Reader Photo Contest
When scanning the cigar-related headlines this morning, I stumbled into a PennLive.com op-ed piece with a wonderfully inflammatory headline: “Pa. backroom deals aid Big Tobacco, harm regular folks.” Unfortunately, the piece consists of nothing but misinformation and flawed assumptions about the cigar industry, cigar taxation and the impact of both on Pennsylvania’s budget. It’s time [...]
Continue reading about Stop the Lies: Cigar Taxes Would Not Have Helped Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell just won’t give it up: even when signing the state’s $28 billion budget, he lamented that it lacked a tax on cigars. He couldn’t celebrate that this was the first budget to be passed on time in eight year. Instead, the governor had to dwell on one of the few things [...]
Continue reading about Rendell Signs Pennsylvania Budget, No Cigar Tax
It looks like efforts to include a cigar tax in the Pennsylvania budget won’t come to fruition. Lawmakers there have tentatively agreed to a $28.5 billion budget which should be approved tonight. According to the Central Penn Business Journal: The budget did not include taxes on cigars or smokeless tobacco, omissions in which the governor [...]
The Pennsylvania budget is still up in the air, but the legislature and governor appear to be making progress ahead of the June 30, 2010 deadline. The gap between the two sides is narrowing, and there is reason for optimism among the negotiators. For cigar smokers, however, it’s hard to relax. A cigar tax remains [...]
Continue reading about Cigar Tax Still on the List in Pennsylvania Budget Talks
Pennsylvania is on its way to a budget, and it looks like the proposed cigar tax won’t be part of it. The tobacco tax, which is only expected to generate around $4 million in revenue for the state, is among the few items not yet finalized, but it isn’t expected to be a “budget-stopper.” Currently, [...]
