A report released Wednesday by Cook County Clerk David Orr’s office showed lobbying firms hired by tobacco companies accounted for nearly 10 percent of the $2.4 million paid to lobbyists last year to influence Cook County officials, almost certainly a result of the $1 hike in the county cigarette tax.<br />
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Funny, they didn’t mention how much Big Pharma, ACS, ALA, AHA and various other anti-tobacco activist paid to have this tax enacted.<br />
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) was joined today by Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) to introduce the <i>Tobacco Tax Equity Act</i> to close loopholes in the tax code that allow tobacco companies to avoid the federal cigarette and roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco tax. Because pipe tobacco is taxed at a lower rate than cigarettes, some companies have begun relabeling RYO tobacco as pipe tobacco to avoid paying the federal cigarette tax. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that establishing tobacco tax parity and closing loopholes in the tobacco tax code would generate roughly $3.6 billion over 10 years.
As the deadline nears to file proposed laws during the current Maryland General Assembly session, proposals to increase the state’s <b>tobacco tax</b>, limit the size of gun magazines and ban gender identity discrimination are all on the agenda.<br />
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If you smoke contact your legislator or you will be paying an additional $1.00 per pack.<br type="_moz" />