‘Just Say No’ to Savannah’s Proposed Smoking Ban, says IPCPR
Savannah, Georgia July 23, 2010 – The International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association is urging smokers and non-smokers alike to ‘just say no’ to the Savannah City Council’s proposed smoking ban extension that would include virtually all workplaces, including smoke shops.
The second opportunity for comment on the issue will be at the Quarterly Town Hall Meeting to be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 28 in the Savannah Civic Center Ballroom. The proposal would eliminate current exemptions in the Georgia law by making all workplaces smoke-free. This includes all indoor and outdoor areas of bars, restaurants, private clubs and other businesses, including cigar stores and within 20 feet from the entrance to any such workplace.
“What no one needs is more of government telling people what they can and cannot do,” said Chris McCalla, legislative director of the IPCPR.
The IPCPR is an association of some 2,000 retailers and manufacturers of premium cigars, pipes, tobacco and accoutrements. These are, by and large, small, family businesses that have been passed on from generation to generation. According to McCalla, they do not represent what most people would classify as ‘big tobacco.’
“Our members hire neighborhood folks, pay all kinds of local, state and federal taxes, including taxes that fully support SCHIP – the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Without tobacco taxes, SCHIP would disappear,” he said.
McCalla said that levels of secondhand smoke in virtually all working establishments are well within the safe standards set by the United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. He also cited a paper funded by the Lung Association and published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine that puts the passive consumption of secondhand smoke at 0.009 cigarettes an hour in a bar and 0.001 at a bus stop.
“That means bartenders would get exposure to roughly 20 cigarettes per year which isn’t enough to do anyone any harm,” he said.
In addition to dismissing the overreaching claims against the impact of secondhand smoke, McCalla said legislative smoking bans tend to be unconstitutional and could lead to usurpation of civil rights.
“Jobs and businesses truly are at stake here, as well as the rights of business owners to declare whether or not smoking should be allowed in their establishments. If government was to declare no smoking in its facilities, then so be it. If a restaurant owner decides that his place of business will allow smoking, then that’s his right, as well. If patrons and potential employees don’t want to patronize a place that allows smoking, they have the right to go somewhere else,” he said.
McCalla urged all Savannah citizens, all Georgians and everyone else to attend the hearing or call the City Council at 912-651-6441 or the office Mayor Otis Johnson at 912-651-6444 to voice their objection to the proposal.
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Contact:                  
Tony Tortorici
678-493-0313
tony@tortoricipr.com

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Savannah's smoking rules may tighten
Healthy Savannah, other groups organize to ask City Council to close loopholes under Georgia law
June 28, 2010
By Lesley Conn

Smoke-filled bars and the cigar-laden air in private clubs could vanish into cleaner air if a new ordinance endorsed by Mayor Otis Johnson passes.
Johnson is supporting an initiative from Healthy Savannah, the American Lung Association and other organizations that would close loopholes in the 2005 Georgia Clean Air Law.
The Savannah proposal would eliminate smoking in all bars and restaurants, private clubs, retail tobacco stores and long-term care facilities. It also would prohibit smoking within 15 feet of the entrance of any public building.
Under the 2005 law, bars and restaurants that do not hire or allow access to minors may continue to allow smoking, as can establishments that have private rooms with separate air-handling systems for smoke.
"If someone in 2010 doesn't understand the dangers of smoking and they want to smoke, then they have a right to kill themselves if they want to, but they don't have the right to kill other people," Johnson said. "This is to reduce the effect of secondhand smoke. For people with certain medical conditions, you can see and feel the effect of that smoke."
Savannah's ordinance is modeled after one in Charleston, S.C. Johnson has asked City Attorney Jimmy Blackburn to review the model ordinance, which the mayor hopes to present to council this summer.
Bartender Sarah Sorenson would welcome the change. She enjoys her work, but not the smoke-filled environment she often works in, something she never encountered growing up in Southern California. She also blames the smoke for the asthma her boyfriend, a night manager at the same bar, has developed in recent years.
"It would be great," she said. "I'm in a position now where I have no control over it."
 
Secondhand risks
Exposure to secondhand smoke puts people at risk for asthma attacks and bronchitis and pneumonia, but also is responsible for 46,000 heart disease deaths each year among adult non-smokers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. It also causes an estimated 3,400 lung cancer deaths among adult non-smokers in the U.S. each year.
Savannah supporters of the tougher ordinance plan to put a little more science behind their efforts. Funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, volunteers are taking air samples from area establishments that allow indoor smoking, said Amy Hughes, chairwoman of Smoke Free Savannah, a subcommittee of Healthy Savannah.
The local air samples will be tested and the results presented publicly, Hughes said.
Secondhand smoke contains more than 50 cancer-causing chemicals, according to a 2007 report by the Office of the Surgeon General. They include hydrogen cyanide, which is used in chemical weapons; ammonia; carbon monoxide; and butane, which is used in lighter fluid.
"The science is indisputable that secondhand smoke is harmful," Hughes said. "No one can argue with the data when you show them."
Stacie Schmitz is a smoker who plans to quit at the end of summer, but even now she'd rather take a smoking break in Johnson Square, as she did one recent afternoon.
"Even as a smoker, it gets too much inside a bar at night," she said. "You can always go outside to smoke. Why not? It's such a beautiful city."
 
A last refuge
Jazz'd Tapas Bar in City Market is one of the few restaurants with a bar area that allows smoking. Tourists from other states with tougher laws sometimes will express shock that smoking is allowed at the bar. Some leave, owner Brian Curry said.
For others, it's a refuge.
"People that are bar-goers, even if they don't normally smoke, they'll smoke when they drink," Curry said.
Smoking also is allowed in the bar at AMF Savannah Lanes, 115 Tibet Ave., and it draws patrons every night, general manager Greg Brassard said. The area is closed off, and no one younger than 21 is allowed inside.
"It's really popular, especially on league night," he said. "People can go in there and not have to go out in the heat or the rain to smoke."
Brassard is interested in how the ordinance could affect his business and plans to follow it as it progresses through City Council.
Chris Holman is general manager at Murphy's Law Irish Pub, where Sorenson works. He's worried he could lose customers if the city allows loopholes for some restaurants or bars but not others.
"As long as it's done on an even playing field and it's enforced across the board, no problem," he said.
Sorenson believes equal enforcement is important, too. If that happened, she doesn't think bar owners would have to worry about losing business.
"No matter what," she said, "people are going to go to bars. They might complain at first, but there are so many places where you can't. People would get over it real quick."
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Perdue signs truck seat belt law in Dalton
June 4, 2010
By: Adam Crisp
DALTON, Ga. -- Georgia has joined the rest of the nation in requiring seat belts for all motorists -- even those who operate pickup trucks.
Gov. Sonny Perdue flew to Dalton Thursday to sign the law alongside its sponsor, Sen. Don Thomas, R-Dalton, who is retiring from politics when his term ends in January.
Dr. Thomas had fought for the bill for four years and finally got it through both houses of the General Assembly this year.
"Hundreds of lives have been lost because this law was not in place," Sen. Thomas said Thursday.
The bill went into effect as soon as the governor signed it, but it wasn't clear when enforcement begins. Farmers using their trucks for agricultural functions are exempt from the law.
Georgia has had a seat belt mandate since the 1990s, but rural legislators -- particularly former House Speaker Tom Murphy -- blocked the requirement in pickups, Sen. Thomas said.
Gov. Perdue said pickup operators are at greater risk for injury because the vehicles aren't as safe as automobiles.
"Pickups have changed over the years and are often used to get back and forth to work on an everyday basis," Gov. Perdue said. "Today, they are out on our expressways and bypasses, as well as farms."
Sen. Thomas, a medical doctor who served in the Georgia Senate for 14 years, said the bill was one of two pieces of legislation he felt defined his time in office. He also sponsored a statewide ban on smoking in public places.
A handful of legislators were on hand for the signing at the NorthWest Georgia Trade and Convention Center, and there was plenty of praise for Sen. Thomas.
"I was dismayed in the '90s that pickup trucks weren't included in the original bill," said State Sen. Donzella James, D-Atlanta. "Many of us tried over the years to have trucks included, but it took Sen. Thomas' credibility as a medical doctor to get them to listen."
"Georgia was the last state in the U nion to not require seat belts in trucks," said Mike Healy, senior motor club manager for AAA Atlanta. "We are very pleased that Georgia has closed up this loophole. It just makes sense."
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May 2, 2010
Governor Perdue,
I urge you to veto the recently passed seat belt bill.  It is not the role of 'big nanny' government to protect adults from themselves.  Some members of the legislature indicated that they supported this nanny dictate because Georgia might get more federal highway funds.  So there the legislators of GA once again bow down to lick the hand of an ever expanding federal government that is on the verge of bankruptcy and wants to micromanage its citizens.  Government control is what the Tea Party patriots have been fighting. 
In addition to what I've said above, there are indications that government dictated seat belt laws are not as effective as people have been led to believe.  Note the articles below. 
http://reason.org/news/show/122441.html
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/the-fraud-of-seat-belt-laws/
-Jeremy Richards, Ph.D.
Southeast Regional Director
Citizens Freedom Alliance, Inc.

Pickup seat belt law passes in Georgia
April 28, 2010
By Ashley Speagle
Correspondent
ATLANTA -- After years of delay, a bill that would require pickup truck drivers to wear seat belts passed the Legislature on Tuesday and will go to the governor to sign into law.
"I am thankful we could all work together to ensure the passage of legislation that will prevent unnecessary deaths and injuries while saving money," said Sen. Don Thomas, R-Dalton, who sponsored the bill. Dr. Thomas, a physician, is leaving the Legislature at the end of his term to tend to his medical practice.
Senate Bill 458 will require pickup drivers to join the rest of the state's motorists in wearing seat belts. Pickups used on farms and other agricultural jobs are exempt.
Rep. Kevin Levitas, D-Atlanta, said the new law would do for free what Georgia's Highway Safety Improvement Program spends more than $100 million per year to do -- save lives on highways.
Sen. Thomas said the bill also could save taxpayers $25 million in Medicaid costs over 10 years from expenses related to pickup accidents.
Rep. Penny Houston, R-Nashville, said the bill protects every insured Georgian.
"If you don't have a seat belt on and have no insurance ... I have to pay your hospital bill," she said.
Others noted passing the law could bring back federal highway funds that had been denied for lack of such a statute.
The vote was 132-29. Some opponents said the bill would move Georgia toward becoming a "nanny state" and disputed claims that the law could bring any federal money.
"There is no federal money to come down if we pass this law," said Rep. Jay Roberts, R-Ocilla, attempting to rally opposition. He also offered an amendment, which failed, to make seat belt laws secondary.
Georgia is among 30 states with primary seat belt laws, allowing officers to ticket violators simply for not wearing seat belts. Secondary laws, in 19 states, allow officers to ticket for seat belt offenses only after pulling someone over for another violation.
Sen. Thomas watched the House vote before returning to Senate applause on its passage. His colleague from Dalton, Rep. Roger Williams, voted for the bill.
"I support Senate Bill 458, not because he's my state senator, but it's the right thing to do," Rep. Williams said. "I don't care whether we get federal dollars or not; it's a good bill; it saves lives."

By the numbers
* 30: States with primary seat belt laws, including Georgia, the only state in this group exempting pickup drivers
* 19: States with secondary seat belt laws
* 1: State with no seat belt laws for adults (New Hampshire)
Source: Governors Highway Safety Association

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Premium Cigar Manufacturers, Retailers, Consumers Already Paying VAT-Like Tax in U.S.
Columbus, Georgia April 27, 2010 – The United States already has a Value Added Tax (VAT) or something very close to it, according to an op-ed piece distributed this week to daily and weekly newspapers across the country. It’s called SCHIP, according to Chris McCalla, legislative director of the association which represents some 2,000 tobacconists nationwide.
McCalla was referring to the controversial European VAT which is being considered for application in the United States on top of other sales taxes and that SCHIP is similarly applied. McCalla explained that SCHIP – the State Children’s Health Insurance Program – is the equivalent of a VAT.
“A VAT by any other name is still a VAT and, whether we like it or not (we don’t), the U.S. is already using a VAT-like tax under the guise of SCHIP which was originally enacted by Congress in 1997 and substantially expanded in early 2009,” said McCalla.
“SCHIP is … funded entirely by tobacco taxes. The tobacco industry – including members of (IPCPR) – has always been in favor of healthcare insurance for children, but for its funding to rely solely on the declining base of tobacco federal excise taxes doesn’t make any sense. Healthcare costs go up and tax receipts go down because fewer people can afford the heavily taxed tobacco products or they find ways to avoid paying any tobacco taxes at all. Add a so-called VAT and it makes even less sense.”
He added that VAT is a misnomer. Instead, “it should be called ‘an excuse to collect a hidden federal sales tax on products every step of the way – from providers of parts and components to manufacturers to wholesalers and retailers.’
“Manufacturers of hand-made cigars, for example, pay the tax when they sell their premium cigars and pipe tobaccos to retail tobacconists. Then, in most cases, the retailers pay to their state governments a state excise tax on those same tobacco products except that the state excise tax is on the cost of the product including the full amount of the federal SCHIP tax. That’s what’s happening now: Our members pay state taxes on top of federal taxes, not just one in addition to another. VAT would compound that once again. And, don’t forget state and local sales taxes on top of all that!” he said.
McCalla reminded readers that current sales taxes are only applied when the consumer makes a purchase.
“As it is now, when a manufacturer sells products to a distributor and when the distributor sells his products to a retailer, there is no tax levied or paid, federal or state, except for excise taxes such as on tobacco. State and local sales taxes are levied when the products are sold to the consumer – you and me.
“Remember, a VAT is a hidden federal sales tax which will be imposed on that same product and its component parts, every step of the way – from parts suppliers to manufacturers to wholesalers to distributors to retailers, including when it is sold to you and me when the state and local sales taxes are added on top of it all. It’s a tax on a tax on a tax on a… well, you get the idea.
According to McCalla, either way “we’re screwed. Paying taxes on taxes and compounding them with more taxes is what it VAT all about. It will be the end of many businesses – not just smoke shops and cigar bars. It will mean the loss of many jobs, and it will create pricing of products that will put them out of the reach of many consumers – including you and me.”
McCalla recommended that all U.S. voters – smokers and non-smokers alike – should “become knowledgeable about SCHIP and VAT and, indeed, our nation’s entire system of federal and state taxation and let their elected representatives know how they feel.”
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Contact:              
Tony Tortorici
678/493-0313
tony@tortoricipr.com

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GA Christian Coalition slams tobacco tax idea
Mar 23, 2010 
By David Miller, WALB
Atlanta-  Georgia Christian coalition leader Jerry Luquire says, "The state's need for revenue is the only right reason for tax increases," and completely rejects higher cigarette taxes.
The GCC believes that the only justification for sales or use taxes is the exclusive need for government revenue, and is not a tool to control lifestyle, health, or the environment.
The Georgia Christian Coalition's position statement was sparked by the controversy over a 300% proposed increase in Georgia's tax on cigarette purchases to $1.00 per pack.
Some supporters claim the tax would lower demand for tobacco products, especially among teens.
'Horse feathers!' said Luquire: "If you think money has any real meaning to teens, then you haven't checked their spending on cell phones, texting, video games, energy drinks and car accessories.
Luquire says he's an ex-smoker, and has some experience on  the matter. "A nicotine addict is going to have his fix and a nickel a cigarette is simply going to mean he has less money to spend on other things that also have taxes on them."
Instead of making more cash through cigarettes, GCC recommends higher taxes on lottery sales and an entertainment tax for the future.
"Iowa has proven a tax does not decrease lottery sales; it will bring a half billion dollars to the state general fund and local governments a year and can be in force by July. The jury is still out on what a quarter or so tax per movie or event would do to entertainment sales," he claimed.
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GBI: Alcohol, Anti-Smoking Drug Helped Cause Walker's Suicide
March 20, 2010
By Bernard O'Donnell  
An anti-smoking drug, combined with heavy drinking, contributed to Warner Robins Mayor Donald Walker's suicide, according to autopsy results.
The results released by Houston County coroner Danny Galpin confirmed that his cause of death was death by self-inflicted gunshot wound. The manner of death was ruled as suicide.
The GBI crime lab report says, "He was taking Chantix to stop smoking, which caused severe depression. On the day of his death, his severe depression caused him to consume large quantities of alcohol. This acute ethanol intoxication state, superimposed upon his severe depression, severely impaired his remembering, reasoning and cognitive abilities."
In 2008, an FDA public-health advisory warned that Chantix could cause mood and behavior changes, including "anxiety, nervousness, tension, depressed mood, unusual behaviors and thinking about or attempting suicide."
The GBI report says Walker's blood alcohol level when he entered the Houston Medical Center was 389 mg/dl. That's nearly five times the drunken-driving limit of .08% or 80 mg/dl, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Walker was Warner Robins' mayor for 14 years. He died Sept. 28, 2009 in the midst of a re-election campaign. His wife later told 13WMAZ that Walker was depressed about tax problems and their possible effect on his re-election. The autopsy report gives this account of his death: "Wife heard a gunshot. Went in bedroom and found him supine on bed with an apparent gunshot wound of the head. EMS called. Transported to Houston Medical Center ER by ambulance. He was stabilized & transported by ambulance to Medical Center of Central Georgia. He remained in the Emergency Department until his death."
The report says Chantix was one of eight medications found in Walker's system.
"Everybody, especially close friends and family have got the big question: Why?" says Walker's friend, Sonny Watson.
Watson say he knew Donald Walker the day he was born, but it's the day of his death that still lingers in his mind.
"Talking to him on occasions and weekly and that kind of thing, about the campaign, about city business and other things and all at once it was shut off, it didn't ease off, it was just gone," says Watson.
Looking over the report, Warner Robins City Councilman Bob Wilbanks says six months later he still feels for Walker's family and the city's loss.
"Mayor Walker was not a perfect person, none of us are, but Warner Robins was as close to being perfect the day he died that it will ever be," says Wilbanks.
For Watson the findings bring some closure.
He says, "It was something that was kind of beyond his control, in deep depression and that kind of thing, it answers a little bit of why, not all of it, but a little bit."
And says he'll keep the good memories with the man he called one of Warner Robins' greatest leaders.
Check back with 13WMAZ. com for updates on this story today.
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GA tobacco taxes
March 8, 2010
Legislators of the Gordon College area,
I am Jeremy Richards, a history professor at Gordon College, current resident of Barnesville, and native of Ellijay.  In my capacity as Southeast Regional Director of the Citizens Freedom Alliance (a national non-profit organization that deals with property rights issues) I came across an article about tobacco taxes in GA.  I do not smoke myself so in that sense I have no dog in this fight to raise cigarette taxes in GA.  However, the author Patrick Fleenor argues that high cigarette taxes transfer tax wealth from the poorer, heavier smoking counties to the wealthier lighter smoking counties.  Here's a quote from the article:  "The biggest winner from this fiscal redistribution is Cobb-Douglas where the state spent $1.29 on general services for every $1.00 the residents paid in cigarette taxes; the total amount transferred was $4.2 million in 2007."
Here is a link to the full article:
http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/25864.html
One other concern I have about high cigarette taxes is that they have led to massive smuggling in many places that have imposed them.  Nanny Bloomberg's New York has witnessed this as organized crime organizations have brought cigarettes in by the truckloads from states like VA and NC. 
Here's an article about smuggling:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124804682785163691.html
I know that cigarette tax increases may be pretty popular right now, but in light of the above information it may not be a road down which the state of GA needs to travel.
Jeremy Richards, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History, Gordon College
Southeast Regional Director, Citizens Freedom Alliance

Savannah Mayor says "Sue Us" if you don't like it.
We talk to some Savannah activists about the new Bartending law and how they are getting stonewalled by the local bureaucrats about removing it. We interview Shaun Beaudry , Nicole Edge and Anthony Migchelbrink about the new law and how it will effect local businesses.
Watch the video

Premium Cigar Group Labels Columbia Study as Corrupt Misuse of Junk Science
Columbus, Georgia March 3, 2010 -- Conclusions made by a new study of cigar and pipe smoking by researchers at the Columbia University Medical Center are not supported by the study’s findings, says the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association, a not-for-profit group of premium cigar retailers and manufacturers. 
The study, published last month in the Annals of Internal Medicine, was funded primarily by grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Institutes of Health. The study concludes that “physicians should… counsel cessation of pipe and cigar smoking….” 
“Nothing in the study justifies this erroneous conclusion. It is prejudicial and preconceived, thereby justifying the labeling of the survey as being a corrupt misuse of junk science,” said Chris McCalla, legislative director of the IPCPR which is comprised largely of some 2,000 neighborhood mom-and-pop retail stores and family-owned manufacturers of premium cigars, pipes, tobacco and related accoutrements.
McCalla cited several features of the study that he said support his group’s position:
1. Of 3,528 participants in the study, only 58 had ever smoked cigars or pipes and not cigarettes, and only 428 had smoked pipes or cigars along with cigarettes.
2. Only 47 of the subjects were current cigar smokers, of which only 16 were current cigar smokers who had never smoked cigarettes.
3. Of the cigar smokers, 95 percent were male, but only 34 percent of non-smokers were men.
4. There was no effort in the study to determine the type of cigar smoked – machine-made or premium, hand-made cigars.
5. The study showed no clinical effect on lung function in cigar smokers.
6. There were no differences in airflow obstruction between cigar smokers and non-smokers.
7. Cotinine levels (a form of nicotine) were similar in cigar smokers and non-smokers.
“The study found no clinical differences between cigar smokers and non-smokers and to draw conclusions to the contrary is to participate in a conspiracy of public disinformation and deception,” McCalla said.
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Contact:              
Tony Tortorici
678/493-0313
tony@tortoricipr.com

CORRECTION:Premium Cigar Association Teams with Americans for Tax Reform against Georgia Legislators
CORRECTION  Atlanta, Georgia March 8, 2010 – The Georgia House of Representatives is moving to increase state excise taxes on cigarettes by 270 percent and pipe and smokeless tobacco by 150 percent that the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association and Americans for Tax Reform are having none of.
House Bill 39 aims to increase state cigarette taxes from the current $.37 per pack to $1.37 per pack and state taxes on loose and smokeless tobacco would go up 150 percent from 10 percent of wholesale value to 25 percent of wholesale cost.
In a letter to Georgia House and Senate Taxpayer Protection Pledge signers, the ATR said, “A vote in favor of this tax hike would be a violation of the… commitment you made to your constituents to oppose any and all tax increases.”
The letter also pointed out that Georgia’s nearby states have an average cigarette tax of $.36 per pack.  If the tax hike is passed, Georgians will have to pay $1.37 in state taxes per pack, nearly quadruple that of their neighbors.  In a similar situation, Maryland raised the state’s tobacco tax last year to cover a projected budget shortfall.  However, the problem was only made worse when tobacco sales fell 25% after consumers drove to nearby states with lower tax rates to make their tobacco purchases.
Chris McCalla, legislative director of the Columbus, Georgia-based IPCPR, agreed with the ATR’s position that, “It is critical to revitalize Georgia’s economy with tax cuts, not tax increases. We must lift the burden of larger government from the backs of hardworking taxpayers and consumers instead of further depressing economic activity.”
Although premium cigars are not included in the proposed tax hike, McCalla said the IPCPR’s position was preemptive and aimed at attempting to protect the long-range business interests of its members and the rights of Georgia consumers.
McCalla recounted a story told to him by Brett Chastain, owner of the Sweetbriar Smoke Shop in Columbus, Georgia. Chastain’s location serves the Ft. Benning area and many of his pipe tobacco customers are retired military on fixed income.
“These people, our heroes, are very sensitive to tax increases. The proposed state tax increase on pipe tobacco would further exacerbate the pricing issues brought on earlier this year by a 158 percent increase in the federal tax on pipe tobacco.  It went from $1.10 per pound to $2.83 per pound. And Georgia wants to add to that an increase of 150 percent in state taxes? What are they thinking?” McCalla asked.
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Contact:             
Tony Tortorici
678/493-0313
tony@tortoricipr.com
Editor’s Note:  Some statistical information was inaccurate in the original version and has been corrected in this version.

Premium Cigar Association Teams with Americans for Tax Reform against Georgia Legislators
Atlanta, Georgia March 4, 2010
The Georgia House of Representatives is mounting a move to increase state excise taxes on cigarettes by 270 percent and pipe and smokeless tobacco by 150 percent that the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association and Americans for Tax Reform are having none of.
House Bill 39, with more than 60 sponsors, aims to increase state cigarette taxes from the current $.37 per pack to $1.37 per pack and smokeless tobacco state tax would go up 150 percent from 10 percent of wholesale value to 25 percent of wholesale cost.
In a letter to Georgia House and Senate Taxpayer Protection Pledge signers, the ATR said, “A vote in favor of this tax hike would be a violation of the… commitment you made to your constituents to oppose any and all tax increases.”
The letter also pointed out that Georgia’s nearby states have an average cigarette tax of $.36 per pack.  If the tax hike is passed, Georgians will have to pay $1.37 per pack, nearly quadruple that of their neighbors.  In a similar situation, Maryland raised the tobacco tax last year to cover a projected budget shortfall.  However, the problem was only made worse when tobacco sales fell 25% after consumers drove to nearby states with lower tax rates to make their tobacco purchases.
Chris McCalla, legislative director of the Columbus, Georgia-based IPCPR, agreed with the ATR’s position that, “It is critical to revitalize Georgia’s economy with tax cuts, not tax increases. We must lift the burden of larger government from the backs of hardworking taxpayers and consumers instead of further depressing economic activity.”
Although premium cigars are not included in the proposed tax hike, McCalla said the IPCPR’s position was preemptive and aimed at attempting to protect the long-range business interests of its members and the rights of Georgia consumers.
McCalla recounted a story told to him by Brett Chastain, owner of the Sweetbriar Smoke Shop in Columbus, Georgia. Chastain’s location serves the Ft. Benning area and many of his pipe tobacco customers are retired military on fixed income.
“These people, our heroes, are very sensitive to tax increases. The proposed state tax increase would further exacerbate the pricing issues of pipe tobacco brought on earlier this year by a 2,000 percent tax increase on tobacco that raised federal pipe tobacco taxes from $2.8311 per pound to $24.78 per pound. And Georgia wants to add another 150 percent increase to that? What are they thinking?” McCalla asked.
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Contact:
Tony Tortorici
678/493-0313
tony@tortoricipr.com