40
TOBACCO BUSINESS
JULY/AUGUST 2013
advocate
A
s states go,New York could be the tobacco industry’s
archenemy No 1. Not only does it far and away hold
the highest state cigarette excise tax in the nation of
$4.35,its even-worse BigApple locale (with the highest
combined state/local tax rate of $5.85) is setting out to
be known as the “Anti-Tobacco” city.The New York City
Department of Health is proposing to prohibit the retail display
of cigarette packs, to stop bar retailers from offering price discounts
or retail coupons and to set a minimum price of $10.50 per pack for
cigarettes and little cigars.
Meanwhile, an analysis conducted by the tobacco industry-backed
Save Our Stores coalition showed that this “anti-tobacco plan” would force
more than 2,000 (or 21 percent) of existing licensed tobacco outlets to close
or stop selling cigarettes, thereby putting 9,741 retail employees out of work
and costing New York City and the state almost $19 million in tobacco tax
revenue, as reported in the
New York Post
.
The analysis, financed by Altria Group, also reported that the proposed
plan would increase the cost of cigarettes by 32 cents per pack and encourage
smokers to purchase less expensive cigarettes from the black market. New
York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg “wants to enact draconian regulations
Tobacco
regulaTion
and
TaxaTion
at the
sTaTe
level has continued with
negative, but
also
a
sprinkling of
posiTive
,
consequences for the
indusTry.
TOBACCO OUTLET BUSINESS
JULY/AUGUST 2013
