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 New York Association of Convenience Stores reports that cigarette sales by its members fell 25 percent to 35 percent last month. Does this means that people are quitting? Or, more realistically, is it because people are going across state lines, where the taxes aren’t severe? Let’s do the math on this one. There are [...]
Continue reading about New York Cigarette Sales off by a Third
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
The number of Iowa businesses seeking cigar and other tobacco permits has plunged in Iowa, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health’s Tobacco Use Prevention and Control division. From 5,500 retail permits in the state in 2003 and 2004, the tobacco tax and smoking ban pushed the number down by approximately a third.
Continue reading about Cigar Sales: Small Businesses Suffer in Iowa
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 doesn’t look very good for us cigar smokers, again. A Massachusetts House Representative, Bill Delahunt, is leading a proposal that seeks to allow states to collect taxes from online purchases, which would include online cigar purchases. Just recently, New York passed a tax increase that will raise the existing 46% tax on cigars to [...]
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 [...]
Even though the deed is done in New York (at least for now), the topic of cigar taxes is still hot. Everyone is talking about which states are at risk next, not to mention how the cigar industry and consumer will adapt to a changing reality.
Continue reading about Cigar Taxes: La Aurora’s Jose Blanco’s Thoughts
