Tobacco.org

Rally aimed at RI gas, cigarette tax proposals  

Dozens of Rhode Island convenience store owners and workers rallied Tuesday against proposals to raise the state's cigarette and gasoline taxes, saying any increase would cripple their businesses by driving customers into neighboring Massachusetts and encouraging tobacco sales over the Internet or on the black market.

A $7.2 billion spending plan scheduled for a House floor vote on Wednesday proposes raising the tax on a pack of cigarettes by one dollar, to $3.46. That would be the highest such tax in the country.

Jump to full article »

Cigarette, fuel tax hikes in RI budget plan 

Rhode Island would raise its cigarette tax to the highest in the nation, hike gasoline taxes and cut funding for cities and towns to close a massive shortfall under a $7.2 billion spending plan heading toward a House floor vote.

The revised spending plan attempts to close a deficit estimated at more than $370 million for the year ending in June, a gap equivalent to about 11 percent of expected state spending. The deficit has soared as the state's economy slumps.

Lawmakers on the House Finance Committee voted 14-3 along party lines Friday to send forward the proposal forward for a full vote Wednesday on the House floor.

Jump to full article »

Bill would ban Twin River smoking 

The already trouble-plagued Twin River gambling hall now has something else to worry about.

Sen. Paul Fogarty wants to end the exemption the General Assembly gave to Twin River and Newport Grand when it banned smoking in virtually all public places in Rhode Island more than three years ago. Smoking was allowed to continue in limited areas at the two facilities because lawmakers feared a drop in revenue if gamblers couldn’t smoke there when they are allowed to do so at the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos in nearby Connecticut.

The state takes 60 cents of every dollar that is lost at Twin River and Newport Grand and that represents a significant percentage of the state’s revenues

The legislature banned smoking in all other public places, including restaurants and bars so that employees would not be exposed to second hand smoke, which is considered to be a health hazard.

Fogarty, whose district includes parts of Glocester, Burrillville and North Smithfield, says the rationale for the exemption – to protect the state from losing any of the money it receives from the two gaming facilities – was misguided.

Jump to full article »

RI lawmakers weigh largest cigarette tax in nation  

Lighting up a smoke could soon become more expensive if lawmakers in cash-strapped Rhode Island raise the state cigarette tax by $1, making it the highest in the country.

House lawmakers planned to vote Wednesday afternoon on a bill raising the state's cigarette tax to $3.46 for a pack of 20 cigarettes, a tax hike intended to help close a massive budget state budget deficit but one that retailers fear will wreck sales amid a deep recession.

If adopted, Rhode Island's cigarette tax would cost 71 cents more than the current leader, New York. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick raised his state's cigarette tax last year in response to a budget crisis, while similar proposals are pending in Connecticut and Maine.

Jump to full article »

Cigarette tax hike put on hold 

the proposed $1 per pack hike in the cigarette tax has been scuttled at least temporarily in a political squabble pitting the governor and the tiny House Republican caucus against the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives.

A visibly peeved Steven Costantino, chairman of the House Finance Committee called for the legislation which he introduced, and was scheduled for passage by the full House on Wednesday, to instead be pulled and sent back to his committee because Gov. Donald Carcieri — who proposed the cigarette tax hike and other revenue raising measures in the bill as part of his supplemental budget — no longer supports it.

The quarrel over the cigarette tax is only one of the immediate problems with the governor's supplemental budget. An actuary’s report shows that pension changes contained in the governor’s proposal would save only $46 million, the administration had booked $96 million in revenue to bring the budget into balance. That $50 million miscalculation is added to another $20 million in other shortfalls that have materialized since the budget was submitted last month.

Jump to full article »

Cigarette tax hike put on hold in House 

A House vote to raise the state's cigarette tax by $1 a pack -- to what would be the highest level in the nation -- was aborted at the last minute yesterday after Republican Governor Carcieri yanked his support from his own tax-raising proposal.

Carcieri's eleventh-hour move was announced by a visibly annoyed House Finance Committee Chairman Steven Costantino on the House floor, the unexpected development punctuated by this uncharacteristic utterance by House Speaker William J. Murphy: "Get it out of here!"

Earlier in the day, Murphy had said raising the cigarette tax "doesn't bother me" because people choose to smoke.

Jump to full article »

Cigarette case leads to more arrests 

An undercover criminal investigation in which three men pleaded guilty to trafficking in contraband cigarettes has borne more illicit fruit, federal authorities said yesterday.

U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente and Glenn N. Anderson, special agent in charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, announced that seven men have been indicted on drug-peddling and firearms offenses in the same probe, which focused on a convenience store on Federal Hill in Providence.

The investigation was "based" in and around Broadway Mart, 447 Broadway, Corrente and Anderson said in a statement. Thomas Connell, spokesman for Corrente, said that because the foundation for the indictments are a confidential grand jury matter he was not yet free to elaborate on how the store figured into the investigation.

Jump to full article »

Reps take on plan to boost cigarette tax 

Who would have thought that buying a pack of smokes could get so complicated?

The House Finance Committee spent hours Friday untwisting the intricacies of taxing a package of cigarettes.

There is the state excise tax, which Gov. Donald Carcieri has proposed boosting by a dollar — from $2.46 to $3.46 per pack — in his revised budget for the current year.

There is the inventory tax to slap the extra dollar assessment on every pack that is already on store shelves, having already been taxed at the lower rate.

And don’t forget the sales tax, and the stamping discount — 1 percent of the total tax, according to Carcieri’s proposal, for the wholesalers who have to actually apply the stamps to each package of cigarettes.

And that doesn’t take into account the minimum markup, actually two minimum markups

Jump to full article »

Storeowners fume over hike in cigarette tax  

State budget officials say the combined effect of raising taxes by $1-a-pack and eliminating minimum pricing laws would generate upward of $17 million in new revenue by June 30, helping to close the deficit.

Convenience storeowners fear it will have the opposite effect. Fewer people will be able to afford cigarettes, they say. Those who can will look to the Internet and low-cost states such as New Hampshire for cheaper deals.

The result: Rhode Island's sales will plummet and they'll lose much-needed business.

Currently, a pack of name-brand cigarettes costs more than $7 in Rhode Island. That's compared with about $8.25 in Massachusetts where lawmakers last year raised the per-pack tax by $1.

Jump to full article »

RI lawmakers, gov discuss raising cigarette tax  

Facing massive budget deficits, Rhode Island's political leaders are considering raising the state's cigarette tax to a level comparable with neighboring states, according to incoming Sen. President M. Teresa Paiva-Weed.

Officials from the General Assembly and Gov. Don Carcieri's office have discussed increasing Rhode Island's cigarette tax of $2.46 per package to a level comparable with Massachusetts, which began charging $2.51 this year.

Rhode Island's western neighbor, Connecticut, charges a $2 tax on packages of 20 cigarettes and a $2.50 tax on packages of 25 cigarettes.

Jump to full article »

Three indicted for contraband cigarette sales | turnto10.com 

PROVIDENCE--Money-making plans for three men went up in smoke after they were indicted for selling tens of thousands of contraband cigarettes.

Federal prosecutors said 38-year-old Hussam Ghanam, of Pawtucket, and 45-year-old Mohamed Amir Tatari, of Johnston, conspired to sell 155 cartons of cigarettes to undercover federal agents without the proper Rhode Island state tax stamps.

Jump to full article »

Cigarette Blamed in Fire that Gutted Woonsocket Homes 

Fire officials now believe careless smoking caused the fire that decimated a four-story, multi-family apartment building in Woonsocket.

Flames erupted in the East School Street building Monday night, spreading through hot air ducts and leaping out of the roof and upper-story windows.

No one was injured.

Jump to full article »

URI students would disagree with any forced cigarette ban 

According to a survey conducted by USA Today in 2005, 31 percent of college students smoke cigarettes. Since 1999, the issue of banning smoking on campuses has been addressed several times and is slowly gaining popularity.

More than 43 colleges nationwide have banned smoking on campuses already, but University of Rhode Island students, both smokers and nonsmokers, agreed that banning smoking on campus was out of the question.

"I don't think it should be banned," said freshmen Sam Martin, a nonsmoker who majors in psychology. "It's a habit that many people have and can't control. There are already regulations that handle the smoking issues. If it's not illegal then they shouldn't be banning it."

URI's smoking policy prohibits smoking in any public or private buildings on campus and states that smokers must stand at least 20 feet away from residence halls. Not all students agree, however, that the smoking policy is doing enough to prevent secondhand smoke.

Jump to full article »

Fumbling for cigarette, driver ends up in pond  

BRISTOL — A man fumbling for a dropped cigarette drove his car off Poppasquash Road and into the Mill Pond Wednesday morning, submerging his Saab sedan up to its tires. Curt Monast, 30, of Fall River, was uninjured. He told police he dropped a lit cigarette in his lap while he was traveling

Jump to full article »

Fireworks go off in car 

A local man was arrested Sunday night after allegedly being found in possession of fireworks — some of which had accidentally gone off — in the vehicle in which he was riding.

According to police, 28-year-old Francis Stranko, of 38 Hedley Avenue, 1, Central Falls, was arrested on a charge of use or possession of Class C fireworks . . .

When questioned, Stranko allegedly told police he had been smoking a cigarette inside the car when fireworks near his feet suddenly began going off.

Jump to full article »