AN AMWA RESEARCH FOLLOW-UP STUDY
Jump to full article: Coalition to Stop Contraband Tobacco, 2009-11-19
Author: American Wholesale Marketers Association (AWMA)
Intro: •
Intent on determining whether progress has
been made in curbing the illegal Internet sale
of tobacco products, an American Wholesale
Marketers Association (AWMA) researcher
selected 27 Internet sites at random and
purchased 22 cartons of cigarettes using a
Visa card and a prepaid Visa card. Of the 27 random sites selected using the
Internet search engine Google, 74% allowed
the use of a credit card—Visa, Diners Club,
MasterCard, and/or American Express.
•
None of the cigarettes purchased carried U.S.
state tax stamps, and in no case were taxes
collected at the time of purchase.
•
The American Wholesale Marketers Association
will notify proper state authorities of the
purchases and pay the appropriate amount
of tax to comply with the law.
•
Age verification was virtually nonexistent.
Most sites simply had a statement on the
home page, or hidden in a disclaimer or
under Frequently Asked Questions, stating
that a purchaser must be a certain age to buy
cigarettes. Some asked for a simple check-off
that the buyer was over 18.
•
This study clearly demonstrates that efforts to
restrict illegal cigarette sales via the Internet
are ineffective, that billions of dollars in taxes
are going uncollected, and that legitimate
sellers of tobacco products in the U.S. face
unfair competition from unscrupulous online
purveyors who are scoffing at U.S. laws and
tax requirements.
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