Posted on 06/25/2009 4:54:39 AM PDT by RU88
TAMPA - Tampa will lose part of its cigar heritage in August when Hav-A-Tampa shuts its factory near Seffner and lays off about 495 employees, closing a factory that has been operating since 1902.
However, the company attributed much of its trouble to the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, a federal program that provides health insurance to low-income children. It is funded, in part, by a new federal tax on cigars and cigarettes. McKenzie couldn't say how much sales of Hav-A-Tampa cigars had fallen off, but the numbers have dropped significantly, he said.
Previously, federal excise taxes on cigars were limited to no more than a nickel, said Norman Sharp, president of the Cigar Association of America trade group. The tax increase, which took effect April 1, raises the maximum tax on cigars to about 40 cents, Sharp said.
King Edward Cigars in Jacksonville may be next............They also make Swisher Sweets........my brand.......
Nothing to see here. It’s for the children. Move along.
The anger is boiling, check out the 15 pages of commenta @ the TBO....grab your pistoles Senor, it is time to purge the fools!
Damn! My grandfather, grandmother, mother-in-law and other family members all worked in the cigar factories many years ago. Sad to see this happen.
Just another example of The Law of Unintended Consequences - pass a law to regulate an activity, raise the taxes on said activity, watch revenue go down and people loose their jobs. Way to go, politicians.
The good news is that they are not walking our streets, raping old ladies.
ML/NJ
Rep. Kathy Castor, the Marxist pig, is in large part responsible for this on the Federal level. Hope they are smart enough to get rid of her in 2010.
Hope and Change indeed!
I’m in New England, but I believe TBO stands for “Tampa Bay Online.” A cyber space version of the local newspaper.
Swisher Sweets and Hav-a-Tampa are a fond memory from my (misspent) youth.
Later became fond of Robert Burns Black Watch and El Producto Queens.
Sadly, I had to give up tobacco when it almost killed me in 2002.
*
“Hope they are smart enough to get rid of her in 2010.”
why wait?
The perverts will see she gets reelected.The gasparilla parade is fine example of the hedonist. Tampa has went to the dark side.
Look at the comments by the anti smoking idiots. If you confronted them with the cost to society of homosexual activity their heads explode.
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