One dollar user fee goes into effect July 1
Jump to full article: Cape Coral (FL) Daily Breeze, 2009-06-20
Author: MCKENZIE CASSIDY
Intro: Convenience stores and smoke shops are urging Cape Coral residents to stock up on cigarettes and other tobacco products before the state implements a $1 tobacco user fee on July 1.
Perhaps one of the most publicized bills that passed the Florida Legislature this spring, the $1 user fee is levied against standard packs of 20 cigarettes and for other tobacco products - such as pipe or chewing tobacco - the surcharge will be 60 percent of the wholesale price.
The measure is designed to combat teenage smoking and incidences of cancer associated with smoking, yet purveyors of tobacco and habitual smokers aren't looking forward to the fee's effect on their wallets. Local tobacco sellers are especially worried about the extra dollar per pack.
Laura Ring, co-owner of the Cape Smoke Shop on Del Prado Boulevard, said the fee will put the price of cigarettes well over $5 per pack and some regular customers could disappear. . . .
The only tobacco products that aren't under the legislation's umbrella are cigars. According to Deutch, cigars were included in the original legislation but were removed in mid-session because the $2 billion cigar industry is such a large component of the state economy.
There are more cigar companies statewide - a majority in Miami or Tampa - than any other part of the United States. Even though cigars were stricken from the bill, taxing cigarettes will still have the most significant impact on reducing smokers, he said.
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