Nasty Tax Laws on Horizon
You need to check out the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers web site.
Some nasty tax legislation is working itself up in state legislatures. For example, in North Carolina, an excise tax increase on cigarettes and other tobacco products, or House Bill 640, is up for legislative review.
A bill summary provided by IPCPR says that the bill would increase the cigarette excise tax by 75 cents per pack (from 35 cents to $1.10 per pack). It would increase the excise tax on other tobacco products by 21 percent of the cost price of the products (from 10 percent to 31 percent of the cost price). The law would be effective July 1, 2009.
The IPCPR also has a good rundown on other state legislatures and what they are up to.
It ain’t pretty
Wisconsin has taken a hard hit in new tobacco taxes effective this month: The part applying to pipe tobacco is an increase in the excise tax of 21% of the manufacturer’s established list price (from 50% to 71% of the list price).