Oklahoma Citizens for Freedom and Liberty

Your Oklahoma source for news, information, The IRS Scam, letter writing campaigns, and more.

Restaurants and Bars around the globe are hurting financially and that means losses for everyone. One of our goals is to supply the legislators of Oklahoma with Ban Loss information. Hopefully, this will make them understand the impact the Smoking Bans are having on everyone. If you think the damage stops with loss of income and jobs, check out our Ban Damage page and ask yourself if this is really what you want for your town.

Contact: Tom Graves

Tobacco Taxes Oklahoma's excise tax per pack of cigarettes: $0.230 Oklahoma's excise tax collection for the fiscal year ending June 2002: $59,281,000 Sales tax on tobacco products: 4.50% Federal excise tax per pack of cigarettes: $0.39 Total federal excise tax collections in fiscal year 2002: $7,512,700,000

Who Profits from Cigarette Sales? click for larger view

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Number of six-packs of beer that must be sold in Oklahoma to produce the same state excise tax revenue generated by one carton of cigarettes: 10.2

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Number of bottles of wine that must be sold in Oklahoma to produce the same state excise tax revenue generated by one carton of cigarettes: 16.1

Oklahoma Smokers' Contributions
to the State Economy - FY2003

Smokers Pay Excise Taxes2	$	58,910,000
Smokers Pay Sales Taxes2	$	49,915,000
Smokers Pay Tobacco Settlement Payments3	$	75,579,000
	$	184,404,000

• Income1

Oklahoma smokers' median household income	$	27,157
Oklahoma nonsmokers' median household income	$	35,664

• Working Families Pay More1

46% of Oklahoma smokers had household income LESS THAN $25,000




7% of Oklahoma smokers had household income EQUAL TO or GREATER THAN $75,000




The impact of smoker payments on the incomes of working families was more than THREE TIMES the impact on higher income smokers. Those who can afford it least pay a disproportionate percentage of their hard-earned income in smoker payments.

• Smoker excise tax/sales tax/tobacco settlement payments liability in 20024

Total average paid per Oklahoma smoker in excise and sales taxes	$	159
Cost per Oklahoma smoker for settlement payments to Oklahoma	$	111
Total annual payments to Oklahoma per smoker	$	270
Total annual payments to Oklahoma per nonsmoker	$	0

Oklahoma Smoker Facts 5

• Total smokers' FY2003 payments to Oklahoma were:
  
  
  
  • Nearly three times as large as projected FY2003 state taxes on alcoholic beverages ($65.9 million).
    
  • Larger than projected FY2003 corporate net income tax revenues ($133.8 million).
    
  • More than twice as large as projected FY2003 inheritance and estate taxes ($83 million).
  
  
• Smokers' payments were larger than FY2003 appropriations for:
  
  
  
  • The Department of Agriculture ($34.9 million) -AND- Tourism and Recreation ($26.2 million) -AND- the Public Safety Department ($65.1 million) -AND- the Department of Veteran Affairs ($24.9 million) -AND- the Department of Rehabilitation Services ($23.9 million)
    -OR-
    
  • Career and Technical Education ($126.4 million)
    -OR-
    
  • The Mental Health Department ($141.2 million).

TOTAL SMOKER CIGARETTE PAYMENTS TO OKLAHOMA FY2003   Per year: $ 184,404,000 Per day: $ 504,871 Per hour: $ 21,036 Per minute: $ 351 Per second: $ 6

CIGARETTES DON'T PAY TAXES -
OKLAHOMA SMOKERS DO!!

1 Centers for Disease Control's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2002
2 Orzechowski & Walker, Arlington, Virginia; from state revenue department
3 PriceWaterhouseCooper
4 U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 state population and Centers for Disease Control's Behavioral Risk Surveillance System, 2002
5 Tax and budget comparisons are from the Oklahoma Office of State, Budget Division, Governor's FY-2004 Executive Budget Book and FY-2004 Executive Budget Book: Historical Data. Both can be found online at http://www.osf.state.ok.us/bud-book.html

 

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Master Settlement Agreement Payments To Date

$245,276,167 has been paid to Oklahoma since the Master Settlement Agreement was signed on November 23, 1998.

 

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Oklahoma Tobacco Laws

A summary of Oklahoma state law is provided below
(for specific questions regarding state law, contact your legal advisor.)

Minimum Age	Customers must be 18 years or older to purchase tobacco products. In addition, it is unlawful to purchase a tobacco product on behalf of a minor. Every person engaged in the business of selling tobacco products at retail shall notify each employee of the applicable requirements of the state law. Employees selling tobacco must sign a form stating that they understand the requirements of the state law with respect to the retail sale of tobacco products, and that they promise to obey the law.
Restricted Products	Cigarettes, cigarette rolling papers, cigars, bidis, snuff, chewing tobacco, or any other form of tobacco product.
Acceptable Forms of Identification	A driver’s license, license for identification only, or other generally accepted means of identification that describes the individual as 18 years of age or older and contains a photograph or other likeness of the individual and appears on its face to be valid.
Fine/Penalty Schedule for Selling to Minors	Violators shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, subject to a fine of $25-$200 and 10-90 days in jail for each offense. Violators are subject to an administrative fine of up to $100 for the first offense; up to $200 for the second offense within a two year period; up to $300 and/or a maximum 30-day suspension of the store’s tobacco license for a third offense within a two year period; and up to $300 and/or a maximum 60-day suspension of the store’s tobacco license for a fourth or subsequent offense within one year. Failure to pay fines within 90 days of the assessment will result in the suspension of the store’s tobacco license until such fines are paid. If the sale is made by an employee, the employee is subject to the fine. The owner of the store shall be subject to an identical fine if the sale is made by an employee who has twice previously been found to be in violation. Employees found in violation may be subject to the suspension of their drivers’ licenses. A person engaged in the sale or distribution of tobacco products shall demand proof of age from a prospective purchaser or recipient if an ordinary person would conclude on the basis of appearance that the prospective purchaser may be under eighteen (18) years of age.
Affirmative Defense	Proof that the defendant was shown and reasonably relied upon proof of age by confirming the validity of the photographic identification by means of a transaction scan shall be a defense. Seller must still exercise reasonable diligence to determine whether the physical description and picture appearing on the driver license or other government-issued photo identification was that of the individual who presented it.
Minor Possession	Purchasing, receiving, or possessing any tobacco product by a minor, unless required in the performance of an employee’s duties, is unlawful. It is unlawful for a minor to present proof of age that is false or fraudulent for the purpose of purchasing or receiving a tobacco product. Violators are subject to a fine of up to $100 for the first offense, and up to $200 for the second and subsequent offenses within one year. Failure to pay the fine within 90 days is punishable by driver’s license revocation. The ABLE Commission shall be responsible for imposing these fines, and shall provide the minor’s parent or legal guardian with notification of the violation.
Sign Requirement	Retailers shall conspicuously post a sign, as specified by the ABLE Commission, which shall include the ABLE Commission toll free number for reporting violations of the Prevention of Youth Access to Tobacco Act, and stating: IT’S THE LAW. WE DO NOT SELL TOBACCO PRODUCTS TO PERSONS UNDER 18 YEARS OF AGE. Violators shall be fined up to $50 for each offense (each day the required sign is not properly posted is a separate offense).
Compliance Checks	As a condition of receiving federal substance abuse block grant funds, federal law requires the State of Oklahoma to conduct random, unannounced inspections of tobacco outlets to determine compliance rates. The Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement Commission and municipalities are authorized to enlist minors to assist in enforcement as long as they are supervised by the ABLE Commission or other law enforcement officials and written parental consent has been provided. A retailer may use minors to conduct inspections at the retailer’s own stores. Any other use of persons under 18 years of age to test compliance shall be unlawful and punishable by the ABLE Commission by assessment of an administrative fine of $100.
DISCLAIMER: This information summary is provided as a service of the Coalition, but is not intended to provide legal advice or analysis. These summaries are not intended to be complete representations of state law, which may contain additional rules and restrictions relating to tobacco products not mentioned in this summary, as well as retailing prohibitions related to matters including, but not limited to, state required training, minimum pack size, the sale of loose cigarettes and other restrictions. Retailers should not rely on these summaries as complete or accurate descriptions of applicable federal, state or local law. Users with questions about the law should seek the advice of counsel. Each state law is unique and possibly represents multiple legislative or regulatory acts. Local laws may differ. Check with local authorities for variations from state law. These summaries are not intended to be complete representations of state law.

The reprinting of this information from the Coalition, does not constitute a representation or admission by RJRT that such information is accurate, complete, or a proper characterization of the laws concerned. The Coalition for Responsible Tobacco Retailing is a cooperative effort among retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers who share a common goal: to do all they can to prevent tobacco sales to minors.

March 17, 2003
At lunch today at Coach's in Norman, OK, there was a cameraman and two actors (at least 2 to my knowledge), sitting right behind me in the smoking area.
The cameraman kept asking the one actor on the smoker's side to "light" up but, he didn't really have to light up, and he would record the other actor's reaction to him lighting up.
The cameraman consistently ignored Coach's employees and myself (especially when the supposed smoker of the cigar couldn't get the matches to light and I offered my lighter).
None of the employees in Coach's know where this cameraman came(comes) from or what his purpose was and he apparently never gave an explanation for what he was doing to any of the employees.
I even offered the advice that, instead of his staged smoking scenario, he might want to just go into the non-smoking section and have his actor light up to get a real reaction and he ignored me.
I feel like this is a setup as he and his actors were there for over an hour and his actor never really smoked.
If you see some sort of expose on one of the networks or news channels that was filmed here in Norman, Oklahoma at Coach's and it sounds suspicious, you might want to put out the word that this was a staged film.

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