Help!!

D

drac

ChestBeater
Please go to these website to find out who your Senator is:
http://www.senate.state.ny.us/
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

Once you submit your zip code it will link w/ your Senator's webpage. Click contact and an Albany; local and email address will be provided. Use whatever media you feel comfortable with.

I believe that we need to start this dialogue NOW> Please forward to family members, other tobacco retailers,
and anyone you can think of that can help us. Below is the letter I emailed to Senator Flanagan. Feel free to plagerize or create your own.

Thank you for your assistance and God Bless you.
Scott



Good morning Senator,
I have heard that the Senate is considering raising the tobacco tax on cigars to 51%. I am in the process of opening a small cigar store in Port Jefferson and this news frightens me. You see, I understand the need for increased revenue, but I urge you and your collegues to protect our businesses and the State's tax base before this increase is discussed. You see, I can easily go online and order cigars from Virginia or New Hampshire and not pay any State tax whatsoever. This provides out of State business with an unfair competitive edge which will threaten our ability to support our businesses. In order to serve our clients, our business plan includes absorbing about 50% of the current 37% tobacco tax in an effort to at least draw patrons and hope they will pay the higher retail price to enjoy the benefit of personal service. Truth be told Senator Flanagan, if the State raises the tobacco tax and does not protect us from retailers located outside our State, many of us will be unable to sustain our businesses. I am making a substantial investment in an effort to forge a better life for my family; please consider legislation that would require outside tobacco to be subject to the same tax structure levied on us. With a level playing field, no one can compete with New Yorker's work ethic.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.
 
51%!! That sucks arse. Good thing I buy my cigars in Kentucky, the lowest tobacco tax in the land!

Good luck fighting off the tax!
 
The idea is not to stop the tax increase but to assist all states with tax rates like our to even the playing field by making internet retailers charge the appropriate tax to customers in that state.
You can all help by contacting your own local government in relatiob to this matter.
 
It is already on the table to make internet companies charge the appropriate tobacco and sales tax to customers within the state shipped to. It is a matter of fast that happens.
I am getting petitions to make it happen faster.

Support local shop owners.
 
I have to disagree. The government should not governt the internet. If the charge sales tax on internet stores the next thing that will come is a charge for email. Then who knows where we go. Keep the internet free!!!!!!
 
summerkc said:
51%!! That sucks arse. Good thing I buy my cigars in Kentucky, the lowest tobacco tax in the land!

Good luck fighting off the tax!
Click to expand...

I always thought VA had the lowest tobbaco tax with 0%...


Good Luck Drac.
 
drac said:
It is already on the table to make internet companies charge the appropriate tobacco and sales tax to customers within the state shipped to. It is a matter of fast that happens.
I am getting petitions to make it happen faster.

Support local shop owners.
Click to expand...

I feel some ambivilance about all of this really. I am 100% against any taxation of the internet but I do see your point.

As of now, it's a buyer friendly scheme we live in online.
 
Treyjo43 said:
I always thought VA had the lowest tobbaco tax with 0%...


Good Luck Drac.
Click to expand...

Cigarettes here are taxed at 2.5 cents/pak, although I think they raised it recently in the last budget. Kentucky was at 3 cents/pak and will certainly be lower than VA after the increase (something like 50 cents/pak) is effected.

Taxes on cigars are zero in KY and VA.
http://tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0169.pdf

I did not see if the increase in VA in the last budget was for cigarettes only or cigars as well.
 
Here is my take on this. I buy exclusively off the internet because local shops are more expensive, but I wouldn't if the local shops were more accomdating and less like a grocery store.

If you are going to start a cigar shop, have it be a place to not just buy cigars but to hang out and have a smoke. A couple of chairs, maybe a TV, it doesn't have to be that big, just a seperate smoking room and maybe a deck. I would love it if there was a place like this in Louisville where I live (if anyone knows of a place please tell me). My wife hates that I smoke cigars and if I had a place like that where I can get away from the pressure and guilt, I might stop buying cigars online less.

Now if you could just round of a liquer license and have a few beers on tap, that would be sweet... :D
 
SeanGAR said:
Cigarettes here are taxed at 2.5 cents/pak, although I think they raised it recently in the last budget. Kentucky was at 3 cents/pak and will certainly be lower than VA after the increase (something like 50 cents/pak) is effected.

Taxes on cigars are zero in KY and VA.
http://tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0169.pdf

I did not see if the increase in VA in the last budget was for cigarettes only or cigars as well.
Click to expand...


Booya! Good ole' Black Lung Kentucky! YeeeeeeHAW!

(Just to clarify, I live in across the river in Indiana, so I do have all my teeth :D )
 
@summerkc: Yeah, but when your Wife finds out your paying up to three times more for something you could have ordered online in addition to the fact you are now gone 'till the wee hours of the morning and come home stinking like cigars and stale beer you'll be wishing you'd of gotten that credit card out and placed that order online :fu ;) .
 
summerkc said:
Booya! Good ole' Black Lung Kentucky! YeeeeeeHAW!

(Just to clarify, I live in across the river in Indiana, so I do have all my teeth :D )
Click to expand...
How come your not smiling in your picture then? :p ;) .
 
summerkc said:
Here is my take on this. I buy exclusively off the internet because local shops are more expensive, but I wouldn't if the local shops were more accomdating and less like a grocery store.

If you are going to start a cigar shop, have it be a place to not just buy cigars but to hang out and have a smoke. A couple of chairs, maybe a TV, it doesn't have to be that big, just a seperate smoking room and maybe a deck. I would love it if there was a place like this in Louisville where I live (if anyone knows of a place please tell me). My wife hates that I smoke cigars and if I had a place like that where I can get away from the pressure and guilt, I might stop buying cigars online less.

Now if you could just round of a liquer license and have a few beers on tap, that would be sweet... :D
Click to expand...

I agree with you KC! I buy mostly on the internet with the only exceptions when I am caught in town without a smoke or I go to the local tobaccoist to hang out and sit around and smoke. He even lets you bring your own beer or liquor!

The very best place I ever hung out and smoked was Blatter & Blatter in Montreal. I took a wad in and bought the best ISOMs I could buy. I met the assistant editor of the Montreal Gazette, a psychiatrist, a lawyer, and some regular guys. The conversation went between English and French and I spent five hours just hanging out. Great conversation and great smokes!

:cool:
 
Summer, my shop is being built to open next month with a full lounge with tv's, surround sound, coffee bar, library area, card table, private member lockers and we have applied for a variance for a liquor license as well.
Our 10'X18' walk-in will give us one of the best selections in our area.
 
I really don't know what the tax rate in Kansas is, but we are not known for having the lowest tax rates in the midwest. I do know that cigarettes, liquor & gasoline are less expensive in both Mo. & Ok.
I wish you the best of luck & understand your desire to even the playing field, but I know the local tobacconist & he already runs 10-30% higher than any other tobacconist in the southeast Kansas area (at least on cigars, cigar accesories, fuel, etc.). If I were forced to pay Kansas tax on out of state purchases, it would not drive me to buy from my local tobacconist (he's already charging $9-10 for a Royal Jamaica Churchill). I would simply have to pay it.

So, I have to be honest here, & tell you, I am not going to e-mail my Senator &/or Congressman & tell him to hurry up & raise the price of my cigars.

I do wish you the best of luck with your endeavor & wish I had something remotely like what you are describing in the area. I get to feeling like the Maytag repairman out here sometimes.
 
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