Here's why Pocomoke area cringes at proposed cigarette tax hike.

 

(WBOC)

Smokers and convenience owners in Pocomoke City are steaming mad about a proposed hike to cigarette taxes in Maryland.

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Pocomoke City stores fear cigarette tax hike, loss of business to Virginia | Latest News | wboc.com

Anonymous said...

Tell me members of the Maryland Legislature aren't mentally challenged!

At least twice in the last 30 years Maryland has raised cigarette taxes. Each time has resulted in a substantial REDUCTION in taxes collected! They can't grasp the idea that 90% of Maryland is within a 30 minute drive of another state, and almost all of them have much lower cigarette taxes. Trust me, a smoker will think nothing of driving an hour just to save $1.00 on a pack of smokes. Think of how many locals drive to Delaware to shop or make major purchases because Delaware has no sales tax.

 Anonymous said...

I recently met a man from Nashville, Tennessee who had retired from ATF, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. When he found out where I was from he related the following story,

"There was a place on the Eastern Shore of Virginia that was called "Dixieland". Dixieland was a legend among ATF agents all over the United States. Before we busted them they sold enough cigarettes to supply every man, woman and child on the Eastern Shore of Virginia a carton of cigarettes every week."

He didn't tell me what year ATF had "busted" Dixieland but he did say that it was now under different ownership.

Get in shape or pay a price.

Senate proposals put premium on healthy living

Bills could put workers under pressure to lose weight, stop smoking

Get in shape or pay a price.

That's a message more Americans could hear if the health care reform bills passed by the Senate Finance and Health committees become law.

By more than doubling the maximum rewards and penalties that companies can apply to employees who flunk medical evaluations, the bills could put workers under intense financial pressure to lose weight, stop smoking or even lower their cholesterol.

The initiative, largely eclipsed in the health care debate, builds on a trend that is already in play among some corporations and that more workers will see in the packages they bring home during this month's open enrollment. Some employers offer lower premiums to people who complete personal health assessments; others offer only limited benefit packages to smokers.

The current legislative effort takes the trend a step further. It is backed by major employer groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. It is opposed by labor unions and groups devoted to combating serious illnesses, such as the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, and the American Diabetes Association.

Read More HERE

What Were They Thinking

Sunrise Family Market and Pizzeria in Exmore Busted

Two local businessmen were sentenced to probation Monday in Norfolk Federal District Court after pleading guilty to trafficking thousands of cartons of contraband cigarettes as part of a plea bargain. Judge Raymond A. Jackson dismissed other related charges against Senel Cuce, 29, of Melfa, co-owner of Sunrise Family Market and Pizzeria in Exmore, and his manager, Ali Riza Zulam, 41, of Pocomoke City, Md., after the prosecution asked for the move, according to court records. The two were placed on probation for three years, given a special assessment of $100 and ordered to pay nearly $39,000 in restitution, the amount that would have been assessed in taxes had the cigarettes been sold legally in other states. They were also reportedly placed on five months of home detention with electronic monitoring. The counts that were dropped included conspiracy criminal forfeiture; trafficking in contraband; and recordkeeping, reporting and inspections charges. According to court documents, the term “contraband cigarettes” means more than 10,000 cigarettes that “bear no evidence of the payment of applicable state or local cigarette taxes in the state or locality in which the cigarettes are found.” Since 2006, Atlantic Dominion Distributors, a cigarette wholesaler in Virginia Beach has served as the principal distributor to Sunrise. Sunrise legally sells a small quantity of cigarettes in Virginia each month, the court records show. In May of 2008 the quantity of cigarettes sold to Sunrise “dramatically increased.” According to an indictment, the illegal activity occurred between September 2008 and March 2009. In all, the men reportedly sold 2,000 cartons of contraband cigarettes from the store. They admitted to selling hundreds of cartons of cigarettes at a time to black marketers who would deliver them to New York and Pennsylvania, where cigarette taxes are much higher. The two were reportedly arrested earlier this year after selling contraband cigarettes to undercover federal agents. Zulam and Cuce reportedly made $10 profit per carton they sold on the black market.

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