Jump to full article: Connecticut Post, 2008-05-11
Author: PETER URBAN
Intro: In his latest crusade against teenage smoking, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is butting heads with Stamford-based UST Inc.
Blumenthal wants Congress to add tobacco to the list of items banned from mail delivery, a step he claims would effectively block Internet sales of cigarettes to minors and those seeking to evade paying state taxes.
UST, the world's leading producer of moist smokeless tobacco products, is lobbying against such a ban. The holding company and its public affairs arm reported spending $650,000 in the first quarter of 2008 on lobbying Congress, according to a quarterly report recently filed with the U.S. Senate.
Although $650,000 may seem large, it represents only a small fraction of special interest lobbying. . . .
Beyond the sale of cigarettes to minors, Blumenthal said the Internet is costing states tax revenues, particularly those that have enacted high taxes like Connecticut. The state's $2-a-pack tax is one of the highest in the nation.
Prudential Financial Research estimated that states lost $254.7 million in excise taxes in 2002 as a result of Internet cigarette sales.
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