Posted on 02/16/2015 10:12:55 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
RICHMOND — A state report linking Virginia cigarette smuggling to terrorist organizations has prompted a Republican state senator to push a bill that would require retailers and wholesalers to obtain a state license to sell cigarettes.
The bill, from Sen. Bryce E. Reeves (R-Spottsylvania), has cleared the Senate, but odds are against it in the GOP-dominated House because of conservative objections to increased government regulations and taxes.
Even in the more moderate Senate, eight conservative Republicans voted against it. They are a group that Reeves, a fiscal and social conservative, often votes with.
“I think they are concerned about regulatory burdens on retailers,” Reeves said. “I share the same concern, but I have a greater concern for our men and women in uniform and these monies going to fund terrorist organizations.”
Reeves’s bill would create a retail dealer’s license for the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products. For retailers, the license would cost $150 a year. For wholesale distributors, it would be $750 for three years.
The person seeking the license would be subject to a criminal background check. Currently, there is no need for a license. Smugglers who want to avoid taxes on cigarettes tend to pose as retailers when they buy large quantities from wholesalers.
The bill would transfer authority for regulating cigarette and tobacco sales from the Department of Taxation to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, which Reeves said inspects locations where alcohol is also sold. Wholesalers would keep records of retailers who purchase from them, something that is not done now.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Nanny State PING!
Yeah, because tobacco is just so...under-regulated...
/sarcasm
Psst, buddy! Wanna buy a tobacco license?
http://taxfoundation.org/sites/taxfoundation.org/files/docs/Cigarette%20Tax%20Rates.png
At $0.30 a pack, Virginia ranks #49. NY is #1 at $4.35 per pack.
Psst!
That will make the cigs even more black-marketable.
Adding yet another law won’t do SQUAT!
We have to go where the terrorists live, and kill them, and their wives, and their children, and keep killing them until they BEG for mercy.
Then we keep killing them until WE decide they’ve had enough.
Then we kill a few more, erase every trace of the moon-cult, and then consider allowing the remaining sons (and daughters) of Ishmael their lives.
They’re playing hardball. It’s time we explain what hardball IS!
Stop taxing cigarettes, that will solve the problem.
Thanks for the ping!
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