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CRA Update: Victory In Pennsylvania!

ericdriscoll

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My home state of NY took a devastating hit recently however at least there is some good news for Pennsylvania. Enjoy brothers!


**CRA Announces Victory In Pennsylvania**

30% Cigar Tax Proposal Defeated!

BREAKING NEWS

Just a short while ago, Pennsylvania senators voted against Governor Ed Rendell's 2010-11 budget proposal to levy a whopping 30% tax on cigars (Other Tobacco Products) in an effort to plug the Commonwealth's budget shortfall.

This was Governor Ed Rendell's second attempt at proposing a first-ever tax on premium handmade cigars for the Keystone State.

Pennsylvania is one of only two states that does not tax cigars, with Florida being the other.

THANK YOU

CRA would like to thank in large part Pennsylvania's senators and leadership and all the CRA members who took time to contact Governor Rendell and other members of the Commonwealth's leadership to express your opposition to levying any tax on cigars.

This important victory comes within less than 24 hours after our victory in Springfield, Missouri where a proposed smoking ban was defeated due to the overwhelming response of local business owners and CRA members!

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/06/pennsylvanias_budget_agreement.html

Rendell said he was disappointed that the Legislature opposed a plan to tax cigars and smokeless tobacco.

Deborah Brown, acting CEO of the American Lung Association of the Mid-Atlantic, was astounded that Pennsylvania would remain the only state in the nation that doesn't tax smokeless tobacco and one of only two that don't tax cigars. She said if those products were taxed at the same rate as cigarettes, it could have produced $90 million to $100 million.

“I can't believe they left this money on the table and they'd rather see people laid off from their jobs than to tax these products,” Brown said.

Republicans opposed taxing these products out of fear that it could result in four of the nation's eight leading cigar retailers to leave Pennsylvania.

“For anyone who grumbles about spending cuts, I grumble, too,” Rendell said. “The only way we could have avoided some of these cuts ... is if we passed a new revenues package” that included the tobacco taxes.

Please continue you the fight!

"Call To Arms!" [ame="http://www.botl.org/community/forums/showthread.php?t=32143"]CRA Call To Arms! - BOTL Cigar Forums - Brothers of the Leaf[/ame]
 

whodeeni

the Cigar "Gangsta" ;0(
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:dunno: You got me on that one Sam! :headroll:


Congrats on the Defeat.... which was probably an easy one....
look at all the tax revenue they kept vs. hoping that they would
have collected more # on new cigar taxes...

But. out of state purchases don't count? How much in state business
do those 4 do? Assuming we're talking, CI, Famous, Holt's, and Atlantic correct?
 
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Deborah Brown, acting CEO of the American Lung Association of the Mid-Atlantic, was astounded that Pennsylvania would remain the only state in the nation that doesn't tax smokeless tobacco and one of only two that don't tax cigars. She said if those products were taxed at the same rate as cigarettes, it could have produced $90 million to $100 million.

“I can't believe they left this money on the table and they'd rather see people laid off from their jobs than to tax these products,” Brown said.
I have a problem with this kind of thinking.

Since cigars aren't something NEED to buy (or can buy elsewhere), higher prices = reduced sales which leads to businesses closing or moving out of state = people laid off and reduced tax income all around (sales, income, business). Do they never take this into account when they run the numbers? :hammersma

They would never get this $90 - $100 million they expect and the budget would still be short.

Where's all the gambling income he promised would roll in when he brought the casinos into the state? At one time that was supposed to fix all our problems.
 
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