Tobacco tax refiled (hello, Dosal!)
A bill aimed at pulling more cigarette makers to pay into a state trust fund to offset smoking related illnesses was filed again Wednesday, reports the News Service of Florida. Sponsored by Sen. Thad Altman, R-Viera, SB 1414 would require companies like Miami-based Dosal, to join a group of other tobacco companies that settled with Florida officials in the 1990s and have paid billions into the Lawton Chiles Endowment. Last session, a House measure (HB 1207) by Rep. John Tobia, R-Melbourne, died in committee despite the support of big tobacco manufacturers and business groups including Associated Industries of Florida. Backers say Dosal and other manufacturers that were not a part of Florida’s settlement with tobacco manufacturers to pay a fee equal to the one charged to companies that agreed to the terms. The exemption, they claim, has allowed once-small companies like Dosal to sell cheaper cigarettes and gain market share. Critics including Dosal have said they were not part of deceptive trade practices that prompted big tobacco companies to settle with the state and therefore should not have to pay.
I find it ironic that entrepreneurs that try to make a living for themselves and hire local people to boost the economy are being kicked while they are being down. The biggest miss-perception people have is that while big tobacco makes 20,000 cigarettes per minute. The little RYOC commercial store that rolls 200 cigerattes every eight minutes that is when you do the math 25 cigarettes a minute and one cannot compare to that quantity manufacture and profit margin that ofbig tobacco makes with theirs.