Tobacco Business

[ 36 ] TOBACCO BUSINESS [ MAY / JUNE | 21 ] T STARTUP / LEGISLATION The Cigar Association of America (CAA) is a leading national trade association representing the interests of cigar manufacturers, importers, distributors, retailers and major suppliers to the industry. Today, CAA’s member companies come from all sectors of the industry and include manufacturers of both handmade premium cigars and machine-made cigars. CAA strives to ensure that the rights of the cigar industry and its customers are protected and that there is always a strong, vibrant and growing cigar industry. In 2018, the United States Supreme Court ruled in South Dakota v. Wayfair that states can mandate that businesses without a physical presence in a state with more than 200 transactions or $100,000 in in-state sales collect and remit sales taxes on transactions in the state. In the years since this landmark decision, a growing number of states have attempted to extend the obligation to remit state tobacco excise taxes to online sellers of cigars, pipe tobacco and other tobacco products. This effort presents tremendous challenges for the companies that sell tobacco in the online marketplace. Every retailer of cigars is important to our members, which is why CAA has stepped in to help this segment of the retail community navigate the complex legislative and regulatory environment in search of a solution. The few states that have attempted to extend the tobacco tax obligation to remote sellers have done so by making small modifications within their existing tobacco tax statutes. The problem with this approach is that it essentially creates a mandate to collect the tax but provides no tools for the state’s department of revenue to do so effectively. Nor does it provide the ability for a remote seller to become or remain compliant. For the states that adopted this approach the remote sellers suddenly found themselves in an untenable position. CAA is working with states to identify the barriers to compliance in their statute and to develop legislation to remove those barriers and provide the tools for that state’s revenue agency to effectively and fairly collect the tax on all remote sales, thus creating a clear path to compliance for all online sellers. TB Removing Barriers for Online Tobacco Retailers Contributed by Craig Williamson, President, Cigar Association of America CAA CLAIMS VICTORY IN FLORIDA OnMarch15,2021,theFloridaSenateCommittee on Environment and Natural Resources voted favorably to S.B. 334, known also as the “Regulation of Smoking in Public Places.” The Cigar Association of America (CAA) has been working to protect the cigar and pipe tobacco industries and the rights of cigar and pipe consumers by pushing to include an amendment to the legislation that would exempt cigars and pipe tobacco from the smoking ban. Without CAA’s efforts to round up legislative support for this specific amendment, S.B. 334 would make smoking of any kind illegal in all state parks, along with giving municipalities the ability to ban smoking in local parks and beaches.