Big Tobacco Pushes Back Against Bloomberg
Mayor Bloomberg is once again pushing for new legislation that
would ban the display of tobacco products, eliminate all tobacco product
coupons and promotions, ban the sale of many individual cigars, and further
increase cigarette prices.
And once again, instead of focusing on the issues that matter
the most to New Yorkers, Mayor Bloomberg is pushing for excessive restrictions
that will make it harder for New York City retailers to do business.
That is among the key takeaways from an informative new Website
aimed at helping retailers deal with onerous tobacco restrictions. The “Save
Our Stores” Coalition (www.saveourstoresnyc.com)
Website says, “We do not need Mayor Bloomberg pushing another law that unfairly
restricts adult buying choices. Adults have the right to be able to see the
product they want to buy and redeem a coupon for it—even if it’s a tobacco
product. Instead of imposing further restrictions on local businesses, Mayor
Bloomberg should be working to help them.”
Using Facebook ads and on the saveourstoresnyc.com Website,
the group, sponsored by tobacco giants Altria Client Services Inc. (on behalf
of Philip Morris USA, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company and John Middleton); R.J.
Reynolds Tobacco Co.; Lorillard Tobacco Co.; and the National Association of
Tobacco Outlets (NATO), is urging New Yorkers to tell City Council members that
“we need leaders, not nannies” and that “raising taxes and implementing a ban
on the display of tobacco products is a bad idea.”
Mayor Bloomberg’s latest provisions could even fuel illegal,
black market sales.
At more than $12 per-pack on average, New York City’s state and
local cigarette excise taxes have already sparked a black market for
cigarettes. NYPD and federal agencies busted a cigarette smuggling case ring
that is estimated to have cost the state an estimated $80 million in lost
taxes.
Even more alarming, some of the defendants have alleged ties to
Hamas, Hezbollah, and convicted terrorists. Authorities are concerned the
smuggling scheme not only cost New York State millions of dollars in tax
revenue, but may have raised funds for militant groups. Restrictions on coupons
and deals would exacerbate the problem of illegal sales by driving even more
sales away from local businesses and toward illicit vendors and smugglers.
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