Pity
Posted on 08/26/2002 3:14:45 PM PDT by grimalkin
NEW YORK, Aug 26, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Standing behind a chest-high pile of more than 237,000 seized cigarettes, city officials said Monday they had cracked down on stores selling tobacco without a license.
But smoker advocates say black-market sales will only grow in New York, where a tax hike has pushed cigarettes to $7.50 a pack and the mayor is waging a policy war against smoking.
The city seized 11,871 packs - or 237,420 individual cigarettes - from 40 unlicensed sellers between February 2001 and February 2002, said Pansy Mullings, enforcement chief of the Department of Consumer Affairs.
Authorities say they worry unlicensed retailers are dodging cigarette sales taxes and selling tobacco products to minors. To obtain a license, sellers must agree to restrictions on signs and pledge not to sell to minors.
The crackdown is evidence that Mayor Michael Bloomberg is serious in his "campaign against tobacco," said Gretchen Dykstra, the city's commissioner of consumer affairs.
Although the crackdown concluded in February, the announcement Monday came amid Bloomberg's ongoing actions against smoking. He is also seeking to seeking to outlaw smoking in all bars and restaurants.
New York City smokers have been hit this year by a hike in the city's cigarette tax from 8 cents to $1.50. With state and federal taxes, a pack of cigarettes costs up to $7.50 - tops in the nation.
The result is that more smokers are buying cigarettes more cheaply off the Internet, at American Indian reservations and from unlicensed retailers, said Audrey Silk, founder of the smoker-rights group NYC CLASH.
"This is Bloomberg's doing. He set up a lucrative business. They can all thank him," she said Monday.
The city's Department of Finance will auction the seized cigarettes to wholesalers.
The cigarettes typically sell at auction for about $10 a carton, and the pile seized in the crackdown will earn the city nearly $14,000, said Martha Stark, the city finance commissioner.
---
On the Net:
New York City Department of Consumer Affairs:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dca/home.html
NYC CLASH: http://www.nycclash.com
By ERIN McCLAM Associated Press Writer
Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved
Less than 1,000 packs per month. (ONE typical gas station will have about 1000 packs at any given time)
Less than ONE unlicensed seller per week.
This netted $14,000, for one year's work, which probably cost NY about $500,000. Sheer genius, since justifying their existence and finding reasons to inrease their budgets are the top functions of every bureaucrat.
Normal people would understand what you said.
Control freaks just dig their heels deeper. It's a mental health thing.
NY City is getting a first-hand lesson in the Laffer Curve, and from all the bitching and moaning and cracking down, it's obvious they've seen a revenue drop and aren't at all happy about it.
Pity
What a crock of BS - the crackdown was started by the Guiliania administration. Bloominidiot didn't have a damn thing to do with it.
I no longer miss the city of my birth.
Not yet. We are all on pins and needles until we get a report. I hope it doesn't turn into a fist fight. You know how people can be.........
So did Joe Kennedy
His big boy is one of the biggest antis on the Hill - gee, I wonder if their coffers need to be refilled because of all the other undesirable things that clan has been doing over the years!!!!!!!!
You'd think the Liberals-turned-Republicans would have more to worry about, but no. The beat goes on.
Michael Bloomberg - Fascist anti-smoking idiot who focused on the "War on smoking" during the "War on terrosism". Remembered as a nitwit.
Bloomberg was probably warned by his advisers, but stubbornly paid no attention to them.
Hey, Bloomberg, what made you think New Yorkers would roll over for your tax? New Yorkers jaywalk, got it? They don't pay any attention to idiotic laws.
The quick page to Rolling Your Own
I smoked More Menthol 120's for many years. Never thought I could switch, ever. But when the taxes made my cigarettes at an unbearable price, I found out from friends on the Net about Rolling Our Own.
I remembered we have a Smoke Shop downtown. We went in and that was a year ago this past June. Have not bought another pack/carton of cigarettes since. And I am really happy with this tobacco, which is menthol. You can buy regular tobacco or menthol. Lots of people say the regular tobacco taste just like Winston, etc.
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