A new law targeting cigarette smugglers has cleared both houses of the General Assembly and now goes to the governor for his signature.
The House of Delegates on Wednesday joined the Senate in unanimously passing Senate Bill 476, sponsored by Sen. John C. Watkins, R-Midlothian.
The bill would establish additional penalties for "any person who sells, purchases, transports, receives, or possesses unstamped cigarettes" in Virginia.
Cigarettes are stamped in most states to ensure that the tax on them has been paid. If a pack of cigarettes is sold in Virginia without a stamp, that means no tax has been paid to the commonwealth.
In Virginia, the tax on a pack of cigarettes is 30 cents. In South Carolina, the tax per pack is 7 cents, and that state doesn't stamp its cigarettes. Smugglers often purchase cigarettes in states with low tobacco taxes and sell them illegally in states with higher tobacco taxes, pocketing the difference as profit.
If Gov. Bob McDonnell signs SB 476 into law, first-time offenders would be charged $2.50 a pack, up to $500. For a second violation within 36 months, the fine would be $5 per pack, up to $1,000. And for a third violation, the penalty would be $10 per pack, up to $50,000.
If authorities determine that the violator had a willful intent to defraud the commonwealth, the penalty would be $25 a pack, up to $250,000.
On another tobacco-related issue, the House last week also gave final approval to SB 478, which would change the tax on moist snuff tobacco.
Currently, snuff is taxed at 10 percent of the manufacturer's sales price. Under SB 478, which was proposed by Watkins, the tax would be 18 cents an ounce.
The House voted 92-6 for the bill. It passed the Senate last month, 38-2. If McDonnell signs the bill, it would take effect on Jan. 1, 2011.
Bill Phelps, a spokesperson for the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., said the bill would help both tobacco companies and the commonwealth. Phelps said it makes sense to change the tax on snuff to an excise tax, as Virginia taxes gasoline or beer. That way, the tax is based on the amount of the product sold, not the quality.
"We think that taxing moist tobacco by weight ... is a fair way to tax the product," Phelps said.
He said taxing snuff by the ounce will provide a more stable source of revenue for the commonwealth, because the price of snuff has gone down every year for the past six years.
Mar 15, 2010
Mar 10, 2010
Lawmakers raise cigarette taxes across USA
Governor Bill Richardson has plenty of company as he considers raising the state cigarette tax which has become a popular method of revenue enhancement in many other states besides New Mexico.
The state legislature passed a 75 cent per pack increase on the cigarette tax slated to begin on July 1st. Governor Richardson will likely sign the bill which is expected to generate about $33 million a year in revenue for the state's recession-shrunken bankroll.
New Mexico joins Utah, Kansas, South Carolina, and Georgia that have tobacco tax hikes on their agendas. And during the last year, 16 other states have raised cigarette taxes.
Tony Penate is a smoker who questions the tax’s effectiveness. "The number one cause of preventable deaths in this country is obesity now-- not cigarette smoking-- so I think I'd like to see a tax on soda before they put another tax on cigarettes."
Currently, the highest tax imposed on cigarettes is in the state of Rhode Island at $3.46 a pack while South Carolina sets the lowest pack tax at seven cents.
New Mexico’s tax on a pack of cigarettes is 91 cents and would raise to $1.66 a pack under the new legislation.
The state legislature passed a 75 cent per pack increase on the cigarette tax slated to begin on July 1st. Governor Richardson will likely sign the bill which is expected to generate about $33 million a year in revenue for the state's recession-shrunken bankroll.
New Mexico joins Utah, Kansas, South Carolina, and Georgia that have tobacco tax hikes on their agendas. And during the last year, 16 other states have raised cigarette taxes.
Tony Penate is a smoker who questions the tax’s effectiveness. "The number one cause of preventable deaths in this country is obesity now-- not cigarette smoking-- so I think I'd like to see a tax on soda before they put another tax on cigarettes."
Currently, the highest tax imposed on cigarettes is in the state of Rhode Island at $3.46 a pack while South Carolina sets the lowest pack tax at seven cents.
New Mexico’s tax on a pack of cigarettes is 91 cents and would raise to $1.66 a pack under the new legislation.
Mar 1, 2010
Superintendent bans tobacco in Seattle parks
Seattle Parks Superintendent Timothy Gallagher announced a ban on tobacco in Seattle parks Wednesday, overruling an advisory board that last week voted against it.
His ruling put an end to the public debate over whether people should be allowed to smoke and chew in Seattle's parks. In the end, Gallagher wrote in a memo, the ban was a health issue.
The ban aims to protect park users from secondhand smoke and cut down on litter caused by cigarette butts. It was also spurred by concerns that smokers set a poor example for children.
"The negative health effects of tobacco are well documented," Gallagher wrote. "As an agency that has a fundamental mission to support the health and well-being of Seattle residents, it is appropriate and beneficial to prohibit the use of tobacco products at parks and park facilities."
The ban takes effect April 1.
Gallagher's decision is within his authority as parks superintendent, but the Seattle City Council could pass an ordinance to overrule it.
Gallagher was on vacation Wednesday and couldn't be reached for comment.
Mayor Mike McGinn said through a spokesman that he supports Gallagher's move.
Smoking was among activities considered in an effort to list "all the things that can get you kicked out of a park," said Dewey Potter, the department spokeswoman.
The new code of conduct includes prohibitions as varied as drug use and sexual misconduct, disturbing park wildlife and the improper use of park bathrooms. The board briefly considered a ban on spitting but scrapped the idea because public outcry was so immense, Potter said.
Violators of the code of conduct face being banned from parks for 24 hours or a whole year, depending on the offense and how many times they've been caught.
The appointed Board of Park Commissioners voted 3-2 on Feb. 11 to restrict smoking to select areas of parks instead of banning it outright.
"I think that Tim really wanted this [the ban] to happen," Board of Park Commissioners Chairwoman Jackie Ramels said Wednesday.
Ramels voted against the smoking ban. Her thinking, she said, was: "Let's take it in smaller steps. Let's start with the beaches and the playfields and the sports fields, and after a while we can go to the whole park."
Gallagher said in his memo that he was opting for completely smoke-free parks after receiving public support and a recommendation from Public Health — Seattle & King County.
Sally Bagshaw, who heads the Seattle City Council's parks committee, said she thought the park board's solution was "more reasonable."
It's unusual for the superintendent to overrule the advisory panel's recommendation.
The last time in recent memory was in 2004, when the board wanted to exclude the Ballard Bowl skatepark from the design of a new Ballard Civic Center Park. Then-parks Superintendent Kenneth Bounds went against the board's recommendation and left the skatepark standing.
His ruling put an end to the public debate over whether people should be allowed to smoke and chew in Seattle's parks. In the end, Gallagher wrote in a memo, the ban was a health issue.
The ban aims to protect park users from secondhand smoke and cut down on litter caused by cigarette butts. It was also spurred by concerns that smokers set a poor example for children.
"The negative health effects of tobacco are well documented," Gallagher wrote. "As an agency that has a fundamental mission to support the health and well-being of Seattle residents, it is appropriate and beneficial to prohibit the use of tobacco products at parks and park facilities."
The ban takes effect April 1.
Gallagher's decision is within his authority as parks superintendent, but the Seattle City Council could pass an ordinance to overrule it.
Gallagher was on vacation Wednesday and couldn't be reached for comment.
Mayor Mike McGinn said through a spokesman that he supports Gallagher's move.
Smoking was among activities considered in an effort to list "all the things that can get you kicked out of a park," said Dewey Potter, the department spokeswoman.
The new code of conduct includes prohibitions as varied as drug use and sexual misconduct, disturbing park wildlife and the improper use of park bathrooms. The board briefly considered a ban on spitting but scrapped the idea because public outcry was so immense, Potter said.
Violators of the code of conduct face being banned from parks for 24 hours or a whole year, depending on the offense and how many times they've been caught.
The appointed Board of Park Commissioners voted 3-2 on Feb. 11 to restrict smoking to select areas of parks instead of banning it outright.
"I think that Tim really wanted this [the ban] to happen," Board of Park Commissioners Chairwoman Jackie Ramels said Wednesday.
Ramels voted against the smoking ban. Her thinking, she said, was: "Let's take it in smaller steps. Let's start with the beaches and the playfields and the sports fields, and after a while we can go to the whole park."
Gallagher said in his memo that he was opting for completely smoke-free parks after receiving public support and a recommendation from Public Health — Seattle & King County.
Sally Bagshaw, who heads the Seattle City Council's parks committee, said she thought the park board's solution was "more reasonable."
It's unusual for the superintendent to overrule the advisory panel's recommendation.
The last time in recent memory was in 2004, when the board wanted to exclude the Ballard Bowl skatepark from the design of a new Ballard Civic Center Park. Then-parks Superintendent Kenneth Bounds went against the board's recommendation and left the skatepark standing.
Feb 22, 2010
State smoking ban has cost $2 million
Ohio taxpayers have paid more than $2 million to rid bars, restaurants and workplaces of tobacco smoke since the statewide smoking ban took effect in 2007, a sum that opponents say could be better used elsewhere.
The state has spent $3.2 million so far to identify businesses that are violating the smoking ban, to look for infractions and to process them through the court system, according to information released by the Ohio Department of Health to state Sen. Bill Seitz, a critic of the smoking ban.
Health authorities have issued $1.2 million in fines and collected about $400,000, the health department said.
Critics of the smoking ban, which was approved by 58 percent of Ohio voters in 2006, point to the data as evidence that taxpayers are putting a lot of money toward patchy enforcement of the smoking law while violators shirk their fines.
"Even if they collected every single dime of every fine they've issued, they've still spent more than $2 million," said Pam Parker, owner of a Grove City saloon and a regional director of the Buckeye Liquor Permit Holders Association.
Backers of the smoking ban take the opposite view. They say $2 million over nearly three years is a modest sum to reduce smoking rates in Ohio and protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke. Since the ban took effect, Ohio's adult smoking rate dipped from 22.5 percent to 20.2 percent, according to the Ohio Department of Health, although the trend might not be attributable to the no-smoking law alone.
The state Health Department says smoking-related health costs in Ohio come to about $4.37 billion a year, including $1.4 billion to Medicaid, the federal-state health-care program for the poor and disabled.
"I don't think this has been an unreasonable cost for enforcement," said Mandy Burkett, chief of the indoor environment section at the Ohio Department of Health. "I think the costs will be recouped by savings in other areas, particularly health-care costs."
Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican and a smoker himself, said every dollar spent to look for smokers or ashtrays is money that could b used to pay for education, health care or other good causes.
"It's a matter of priorities," Seitz said. "We are in unprecedented times."
He said bars should be able to purchase "smoking licenses" - similar to a liquor permit and costing a few thousand dollars - that would exempt the businesses from the ban. Money from the licenses then could be used to enforce the smoking law at businesses that aren't exempt.
Seitz's idea may face the same fate as other proposals to weaken the statewide smoking ban. Attempts to exempt certain businesses, such as fraternal organizations and family-owned bars, have fizzled in the legislature. Public-health advocates regularly trot out polls showing strong public support for the ban.
Seitz's "smoking license" idea isn't the only route by which certain businesses might be able to exempt themselves from the ban. Zeno's, a Columbus bar that the state sued in August for repeatedly violating the ban, is challenging the constitutionality of applying the law to bars that are restricted to people 21 years or older.
"It might be perfectly constitutional to bar smoking in certain buildings or sports stadiums or family restaurants, but here you have a business that's only 21 and up and that has a bar that's big enough where someone can sit on one side of the bar and not bother someone on the other side of the bar," said Maurice Thompson, the attorney for Zeno's.
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Cain has not ruled on the case.
In Franklin County, the number of investigations into suspected violations has ebbed since authorities began enforcing the statewide ban in May 2007. (Many Franklin County jurisdictions, including Columbus, had local no-smoking laws that predated the statewide ban.)
The Franklin County Board of Health investigated 273 cases in 2007, 200 in 2008 and 163 in 2009, according to records. More than half of the cases were dismissed each year.
The health departments in Franklin and Delaware counties, which receive 90 percent of fine revenue for cases they investigate plus a flat rate from the state Health Department, say the ban hasn't been a big financial burden.
"We haven't had to add staff to get the investigations done," said Stephanie DeGenaro, the head tobacco enforcer for the Delaware General Health District.
The state has spent $3.2 million so far to identify businesses that are violating the smoking ban, to look for infractions and to process them through the court system, according to information released by the Ohio Department of Health to state Sen. Bill Seitz, a critic of the smoking ban.
Health authorities have issued $1.2 million in fines and collected about $400,000, the health department said.
Critics of the smoking ban, which was approved by 58 percent of Ohio voters in 2006, point to the data as evidence that taxpayers are putting a lot of money toward patchy enforcement of the smoking law while violators shirk their fines.
"Even if they collected every single dime of every fine they've issued, they've still spent more than $2 million," said Pam Parker, owner of a Grove City saloon and a regional director of the Buckeye Liquor Permit Holders Association.
Backers of the smoking ban take the opposite view. They say $2 million over nearly three years is a modest sum to reduce smoking rates in Ohio and protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke. Since the ban took effect, Ohio's adult smoking rate dipped from 22.5 percent to 20.2 percent, according to the Ohio Department of Health, although the trend might not be attributable to the no-smoking law alone.
The state Health Department says smoking-related health costs in Ohio come to about $4.37 billion a year, including $1.4 billion to Medicaid, the federal-state health-care program for the poor and disabled.
"I don't think this has been an unreasonable cost for enforcement," said Mandy Burkett, chief of the indoor environment section at the Ohio Department of Health. "I think the costs will be recouped by savings in other areas, particularly health-care costs."
Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican and a smoker himself, said every dollar spent to look for smokers or ashtrays is money that could b used to pay for education, health care or other good causes.
"It's a matter of priorities," Seitz said. "We are in unprecedented times."
He said bars should be able to purchase "smoking licenses" - similar to a liquor permit and costing a few thousand dollars - that would exempt the businesses from the ban. Money from the licenses then could be used to enforce the smoking law at businesses that aren't exempt.
Seitz's idea may face the same fate as other proposals to weaken the statewide smoking ban. Attempts to exempt certain businesses, such as fraternal organizations and family-owned bars, have fizzled in the legislature. Public-health advocates regularly trot out polls showing strong public support for the ban.
Seitz's "smoking license" idea isn't the only route by which certain businesses might be able to exempt themselves from the ban. Zeno's, a Columbus bar that the state sued in August for repeatedly violating the ban, is challenging the constitutionality of applying the law to bars that are restricted to people 21 years or older.
"It might be perfectly constitutional to bar smoking in certain buildings or sports stadiums or family restaurants, but here you have a business that's only 21 and up and that has a bar that's big enough where someone can sit on one side of the bar and not bother someone on the other side of the bar," said Maurice Thompson, the attorney for Zeno's.
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Cain has not ruled on the case.
In Franklin County, the number of investigations into suspected violations has ebbed since authorities began enforcing the statewide ban in May 2007. (Many Franklin County jurisdictions, including Columbus, had local no-smoking laws that predated the statewide ban.)
The Franklin County Board of Health investigated 273 cases in 2007, 200 in 2008 and 163 in 2009, according to records. More than half of the cases were dismissed each year.
The health departments in Franklin and Delaware counties, which receive 90 percent of fine revenue for cases they investigate plus a flat rate from the state Health Department, say the ban hasn't been a big financial burden.
"We haven't had to add staff to get the investigations done," said Stephanie DeGenaro, the head tobacco enforcer for the Delaware General Health District.
Feb 16, 2010
$20,000 Cigarette Theft Caught On Tape
Olive Branch Police are looking for 3 men who stole $20,000 worth of cigarettes from a tobacco store.
The trio was caught on surveillance video putting cartons of cigarrettes into a large sack.
Police are trying to determine if they are also responsible for a similar break-in at a store in Memphis
.(Olive Branch, MS-2/11/10) A bold break-in caught on tape in Olive Branch, Mississippi.
Police are asking for your help identifying three tobacco thieves who made off with tens of thousands of dollars worth of cigarettes from the Kwik Stop Tobacco & Beer in the 7700 block of Hacks Cross Road.
The crooks, who were all wearing dark clothing and a hood or cap, knew exactly what they were looking for.
They went straight for the cartons of cigarettes and dumped them into a large sack they brought with them.
It took them less than 3 minutes to get in and out of the store and steal nearly $20,000 worth of cigarettes and other tobacco products.
"It looked like an organized type crime they had thought out and we believe these individuals will strike again if they are not caught," said Major Tim Presley.
Olive Branch Police are trying to determine if the trio might be the same thieves who stole $8,000 worth of cigarettes and lottery tickets from the Amaco Station on south 3rd in Memphis a couple of weeks ago.
In that case surveillance cameras captured the men trying to cash in the stolen tickets.
"There were 3 individuals in that crime. We are trying to see if related," said Presley.
They're hoping someone will recognize them thieves from surveillance video.
As the crooks enter and exit the Kwik Stop Tobacco & Beer, you can clearly see their faces.
One of the men is also wearing a dark colored jacket with a cross on the front and the word indigo on the back and another has large patches on the back of his jeans.
"When somebody knows somebody and when they are individuals they are acquainted with/ they may recognize these individuals pretty quickly," said Presley.
Police say it's likely the thieves will try to sell the cigarettes at a discounted price to another store.
If you know anything you are urged to call Desoto County Crime Stoppers at 662-429-TIPS.
You can also text a crime tip anonymously to 274637. Just make sure to type in OBPD at the beginning of your message.
The trio was caught on surveillance video putting cartons of cigarrettes into a large sack.
Police are trying to determine if they are also responsible for a similar break-in at a store in Memphis
.(Olive Branch, MS-2/11/10) A bold break-in caught on tape in Olive Branch, Mississippi.
Police are asking for your help identifying three tobacco thieves who made off with tens of thousands of dollars worth of cigarettes from the Kwik Stop Tobacco & Beer in the 7700 block of Hacks Cross Road.
The crooks, who were all wearing dark clothing and a hood or cap, knew exactly what they were looking for.
They went straight for the cartons of cigarettes and dumped them into a large sack they brought with them.
It took them less than 3 minutes to get in and out of the store and steal nearly $20,000 worth of cigarettes and other tobacco products.
"It looked like an organized type crime they had thought out and we believe these individuals will strike again if they are not caught," said Major Tim Presley.
Olive Branch Police are trying to determine if the trio might be the same thieves who stole $8,000 worth of cigarettes and lottery tickets from the Amaco Station on south 3rd in Memphis a couple of weeks ago.
In that case surveillance cameras captured the men trying to cash in the stolen tickets.
"There were 3 individuals in that crime. We are trying to see if related," said Presley.
They're hoping someone will recognize them thieves from surveillance video.
As the crooks enter and exit the Kwik Stop Tobacco & Beer, you can clearly see their faces.
One of the men is also wearing a dark colored jacket with a cross on the front and the word indigo on the back and another has large patches on the back of his jeans.
"When somebody knows somebody and when they are individuals they are acquainted with/ they may recognize these individuals pretty quickly," said Presley.
Police say it's likely the thieves will try to sell the cigarettes at a discounted price to another store.
If you know anything you are urged to call Desoto County Crime Stoppers at 662-429-TIPS.
You can also text a crime tip anonymously to 274637. Just make sure to type in OBPD at the beginning of your message.
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